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WHAT I SAW AND HEAED THERE, WITH 
SCENES m THE PACIFIC. 

BY J. T. FARNHAM, ^^n^j^ 

AUTHOR OF "TEAVELS IN THE GREAT WESTERN PRAIRIES," ETC. ETC. 



IIIttstrat^K 



PHILADELPHIA: 
PUBLISHED BY JOHN E. POTTER, 

No. 617 SANSOM STREET. 
1859. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by 

JOHN E. POTTER, 

In the Clerk's OflBce of the District Court of the United States, in 
and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



■4- 



PREFACE. 



California is my theme. She is now an integral 
portion of this great RepubUc. A mighty popula- 
tion from all parts of the world has congregated ou 
her shores, and with giant strides she marches on 
to power and greatness. Her mineral wealth seems 
inexhaustible, vast sums of gold being annually 
exported to the Atlantic States and elsewhere. 

But a few short years and her condition was 
widely different. With but a sparse white popula- 
tion ; with a government hardly existing other than 
in name, deeds of wrong, of violence, and of blood 
were of constant occurrence. Of this interesting 
portion of her history comparatively little is known ; 
and it is of this period that I propose to write. To 
what I saw and heard while in the country has 

(iii) 



IV PREFACE. 

been added authentic information from every known 
source. 

We may learn much from the pulseless soli- 
tudes — from the desert untrodden by the foot of 
living thing — from the frozen world of mountains, 
whose chasms and cliffs never echoed to aught but 
the thunder-tempests girding their frozen peaks — ■ 
from old Nature, piled, rocky, bladeless, toneless — 
if we will allow its lessons of awe to reach the 
mind, and impress it with the fresh and holy images 
which they were made to inspire. 

And now, dear reader, my task is done. Should 
you laugh and weep, suffer and rejoice, with the 
actors in the wayfarings before you, and send your 
fancy in after-times over those rose-clad realms 
where they will lead you, and feel the dews of a 
pleasant remembrance falling on your hfe, I shall 
receive a full reward for my toil. 

Adieu. 

THE AUTHOR. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
The great Pacific — A Storm at Sea — Our Crew and Com- 
pany — Various Yarns — Old Ocean in a Rage — How we 
turned in, 5 

CHAPTER II. 
Pictures of Woe — The Sack of Bones — His Experiences in 
California — The Black Cook and Scotch Mate — Land, ho! — 
Various Emotions produced — Honolulu and the Professor 
of Psalmody, f'2 

CHAPTER III. 
The First Visitors to the Hawaiian Islands — What Civiliza- 
tion and Christianity has done — On the Sea again — Our 
Crew and Passengers— A Squall — Land ahead — California 
forever ! 37 

CHAPTER IV. 
Brief Whispers of a Revolution — California Officials — Famish- 
ing in Prison — Isaac Graham and his Men — Alvarado in 
Power — Base Treachery, 52 

CHAPTER V. 

What the Prisoners Said — John Warner's Story — The Spec- 
tral Fleet — The Hardy American Trappers — The Mock 
Trial — The brave Tennesseean in Despair — A California 
Festa, 70 

CHAPTER VI. 

Vale of San Carmelo — A California Lawyer — Long Tom Sas- 
safras — The Coast — El Mission De Santa Barbara — The 
Prisoners again — A Friend in Need, 98 

CHAPTER VIL 

California as it was — The Search for Gold — Wreck and Hor- 
rible Sufferings of Cortes' People — The Excitement at its 
Height — The Star of Cortes wanes 117 

(V) 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER YIII. 

Spanish Adventurers again — Their Fortunes and Misfor- 
tunes — Indian Courtesy — A Terrible Disease — Of&cers all 
Sick — A Sovereign Balm and an Affecting Scene, 127 

CHAPTER IX. 

Brilliant Hopes and Small Results — An Intended Massacre— 
A Holy Yoyage Commenced — Trouble with the Indians — 
The Padres Triumphant — Last Days of Father Kino, 149 

CHAPTER X. 
The Holy Voyagers at their Work — A Famine — The First 
Execution in California — What one Musket did — Poison 
and Death, -. 168 

CHAPTER XI. 

The Padres and the Indians — Hope on, Hope ever — The Good 
Father Salva Tierra — His Sufferings and Death — Great 
Mourning — Thirty Thousand People in Prayer, 189 

CHAPTER XII. 
The Wealth of Exhaustless Energy — Triumph of the Cross — 
Zeal of the Padres — Frightful Tempests and a Water 
Spout, 201 

CHAPTER XIII. 
How Father Napoli Discomfited the Indians — A Band of 
Depredators — A Terrible Storm — An Indian Force and a 
Victory — A Voyage of Discovery — Another Jonah and an 
Enormous Shark, 221 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Troubles Thicken — The Indians in Revolt — Brutal Murder of 
Father Carranco — Infernal Orgies — Another Murder — The 
Indians to the Rescue — A Victory of Love — California 
Shrouded in Gloom, 237 

CHAPTER XV. 
Life and Light again for California — Thieves and a Fight — 
Death of Father Junipero — What California was — Masterly 
Inactivity of Alvarado — Captain Jose Castro, his Intrepid 
Ally, 261 

CHAPTER XVL 

War with the United States — Heroism of the Americans — 
Various Battles — Conquest — Discovery of Gold — On the 
Pacific again — Long Tom finishes his Yarn — Poor Graham 
and the last of the Prisoners — Home again, 299 



CHAP! f B I. 

A Reminiscence — A Spectacle — Oreg( r.— J«,ridward and Seaward— Th« 
Great South Sea—Magic Palace— TitkL\^ in Studding-sails — Caverns — 
Storm in Full Blast — Professor of Psc..mody — Fur Hunter — A British 
Tar — An Author— A Seaboat — A Cor-tscrew — A Flagon — A Conversa- 
tion about Life in the Northwest — Its Dogs — Logs — Food — Surface- - 
Lords of the North — Frozen Mountains — Moss — Flowers — Potatoes, 
Oats and Barley — Indian Wives and Sheep — The Arctic Shore — Suicide 
of a Brav^e Man — A Solo— Eel Pond — Ghost in the Shrouds — Tumult in 
Upper and Lower Ocean — Minor Key — War-cry — Special Pleading — 
The Sea— Wine and Song— To Bed. 

In a work entitled "Travels in the Great Western Prairies," 
&c., to which the following pages are a sequel, I left my 
readers off the mouth of Columbia river, in sight of the 
green coast of Oregon. Lower Oregon ! A verdant belt of 
wild loveliness ! — A great park of flowering shrubs, of forest 
pines, and clear streams ! The old unchanged home of the 
Indian ; where he has hunted the moose and deer ; drawn 
the trout from the lake, and danced, sung, loved, and war- 
red away a thousand generations. I cannot desire for my- 
self any remembrances of the Past which shall bring me more 
genuine wealth of pleasurable emotions than those which 
':ame to me from that fourth sunset of December, 1840, when 
I was leaning over the bulwarks of the ship Vancruver, 
looking back on Oregon, and seaward over the great Pacific! 
A spectacle of true grandeur ! The cones of eternal snow 
which dot the green heights of the President's range oi 
mountains, rose on the dark outline of the distant land, and 



6 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

hung glittering on the sky, like islands of precious stones; 
so brightly did they shine in the setting sun, and so completely 
did the soft clouds around their bases seem to separate them 
from the world below ! 

The shores of Lower Oregon ! They rise so boldly from the 
sea ! Themselves mountains sparsely clad with lofty pines, 
spruce and cedar trees, nodding over the deep ! 

And then the ground under water ! No flats, no mud banks 
there. The cliffs are piled up from the bottom of the ocean 
The old Pacific, with his dark depths, lies within one hundred 
yards of them ! And the surges that run in from the fury of 
the tempests, roll with unbroken force to the towering rocks, 
and breaking with all their momentum at once, making the land 
tremble, and send far seaward a mighty chorus to the shout- 
ing storm ! 

The Pacific ! the Great South Sea ! It was heaving at our 
bows ! steadily, wave on wave came and went and following each 
other in ceaseless march pressed onward ; like the world's hosts 
in marshaled files^ they hastened past us, as if intent to reach 
the solid shores, where some resistance would broach their hid- 
den strength and pour their fury out ! 

Behold the sea ! Its troubled wastes are bending and top- 
pling with a wild, plashing, friendly sound ; a deep, blue, un- 
certain vastness ; itself cold and passive ; but under the lash of 
the tempest, full of terrific life ! Our ship stood staunch upon 
the palpitating mass, and seemed to love it. 

Mizen and mizen-top, main and main-top, fore and fore-top- 
Bails, and the lower weather studding-sails were out. The breeze 
from the land which had carried us over the bar still held, every 
thread of canvass drew, every cord was tight, and as we looked 
up through the rigging to the sky, the sails, cordage and masts 
swayed under the clouds like the roofing of some magic palace 
of olden tales. All hands were on deck ; both watches sat about 
the windlass ; while the second officer and mate looked at tho 
horizon over the weather-bow, and pointed out a line of clouds 
crowding ominously up the southwestern sky. The captain stood 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 7 

npon the companion-way, looking at the barometer. In a little 
time officers and passengers gathered in a knot on the larboard 
quarter. 

" I ken there's a storm comin' up frae the soo'est," said the 
Scotch mate. 

" The clouds loom fast, sir, in that quarter," said Mr. New- 
ell, the American second-mate. " I reckon it will be upon us 
soon." 

Captain Duncan needed no information in regard to the 
weather on these shores. He was everywhere an accomplished 
seaman. On the quarter deck — with his quadrant — on the 
spars — and at the halyards ; but especially in that prophetic 
knowledge of the weather, which gives the sous of Neptune their 
control over the elements, he had no superiors. 

" Take in the studding-sails and make all fast on deck," is 
the order, issued with quietness and obeyed with alacrity. 
Water casks, long-boat, and caboose are lashed, ropes coiled up 
and hung on th^ pins in the bulwarks, and the hatches put down 
in storm rig. The wind before which we were running abated, 
and the horizon along the line of departing light began to lift a 
rough undulating edge. 

" Take in the mainsail !" " Go aloft and take a reef in the 
maintop !" "In with the fore-main, and let the trysail run !" 
followed each other in haste, as the sailors moved to the cheer- 
ing music of their songs in the work of preparing the ship to 
wrestle with a southwester. Everything being made snug, we 
waited its coming. 

The rough water which appeared a mere speck when the wind 
came upon the circle of vision, had widened till its extreme 
points lay over the bows. On it came, widening and elevating 
itself more and more ! The billows had previously been smooth, 
or at least ruffled sufficient only to give their gentle heaving 
sides a furzy aspect, while the tops occasionally rose in trans- 
parent combs, which immediately crumbled by their own weight, 
into foam down their leeward acclivities. But now a stronger 
spirit had laid his arm on these ocean coursers. The wind came 



8 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

on, steadily increasing its might from moment to moment ! 
At first it tore the tops of the waves into ragged lines, then 
rent the whole surface into fragments of every conceivable form, 
which rose, appeared and vanished, with the rapidity of thought, 
dancing like sprites among the lurid moving caverns of the sea ! 
A struggling vastness ! constantly broken by the flail of the 
tempest, and as often reunited, to be cleft still farther by a re- 
doubled blast. 

The darkness thickened as the storm increased; and when 
the lanthorn was lighted in the binnacle, and the night-watch 
set, the captain and passengers went below to their wine and 
anecdotes. Our company consisted of four persons. One was 
a singing-master, from Connecticut, Texas, New Orleans, and 
St. Louis. He was such an animal as one would wish to find 
if he were making up a human menagerie ; so positive was he 
of step, so lofty in the neck, and dignified in the absurd 
blunders wherewith he perpetually corrected the opinions and 
assertions of others. 

Another was a Mr. Simpson, a young Scotchman, of re- 
spectable family, a clerk in the service of the Hudson's Bay 
Company. This was a fine fellow, twenty-five years of age, full 
of energy and good feeling, well-informed on general topics, and 
like most other British subjects abroad, troubled with an irre- 
pressible anxiety at the growing power of the States, and an 
overwhelming loyalty toward the mother country and its Sove- 
reign skirts. The other personages were the commander, Dun- 
can, and the author. 

The Captain was an old British tar, with a heart full of 
generosity for his friends, and a fist full of bones for his ene- 
mies. A glass of cheer with a messmate, and a rope's end 
for a disobedient sailor, were with him impromptu productions, 
for which he had capacity and judgment ; a hearty five foot 
nine inch, burly, stout-chested Englishman, whom it was always 
pleasant to see and hear. 

This little company gathered around the ca,bin table, and 
all as one listened a moment to the beatings of the tempest. 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 9 

A surge — another — and a third still heavier, beat upon the no- 
ble ship, and sent a thrill through every timber. On they roll- 
ed, and dashed, and groaned. But her iron heart only seemed to 
gather strength from the conflict, and inspire us with a feeling 
of perfect safety. 

" A fine sea-boat is the Vancouver, gentlemen," said Captain 
Duncan, " she rides the storm like a petrel :" and with this com- 
fortable assurance we seated ourselves at the table. 

I had nearly forgotten Tom, the cabin-boy ; a mere mouse of 
a lad ; who knew the rock of a ship and the turn of a corkscrew 
as well as any one ; and as he was spry, had a short name, 
a quick ear, and bore the keys to the sideboard and some 
things elsewhere, all well-bred stomachs would not fail to 
blast my quill, if I omitted to write his name and draw his por- 
trait. 

Well, Tom was one of those sons of old England, who are 
born to the inheritance of poverty, and a brave heart for the 
seas. Like many thousand children of the Fatherland, when 
the soil refused him bread, he was apprenticed for the term of 
seven years to seamanship. And there he was, an English 
sailor-boy, submitting to the most rigorous discipline, serving 
the first part of his time in learning to keep his cabin in order, 
and wait at the table, that when, as he was taught to expect, he 
should have a ship of his own, he might know how to be served 
like a gentleman. This part of his apprenticeship he performed 
admirably. And when he shall leave the cork-screw and the 
locker for the quarter-deck, I doubt not he will scream at a 
storm, and utter his commands with sufficient imperiousness to 
entitle him to have a Tom of his own. 

" Tom," said Captain Duncan, " bring out a flagon of Ja- 
maica, and set on the glasses, lad. This storm, gentlemen, calls 
for cheers. When Neptune labors at this pace, he loves his 
dram. Fill, gentlemen, to absent wives." This compliment to 
the sacred ascendency of the domestic affections was timely 
given. The storm hoveled hideously, for our lives, our families 



10 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

were far distant over seas and mountains, the heart was pressed 
with sadness : we drank in silence and with swimming eyes. 

A pleasant conversation followed this toast, in which each one 
of our little band exhibited himself in his own way. The Cap- 
tain was a hearty old Saxon, who had inherited from a thousand 
generations, a love for home, its hearth and blazing evening fire, 
its old oaken table, its family arm-chair, and the wife who 
presided over that temple of holy affections. In him, therefore, 
we had the genuine spirit of those good old times when man 
used his physical and mental powers, to build about his heart 
the structures of positive happiness, instead of the artificial sem- 
blances of these, which fashion and affectation draw around the 
modern home. 

Our professor of psalmody was the opposite of this. He had, 
when the red blood of youth warmed his heart in the ways of 
honest nature, spoken sweet things to a lovely girl, won her 
affections, promised marriage, and as his beard grew became a 
gentleman ; that is, jilted her. He, therefore, was fond of free- 
dom, could not be confined to so plain and quiet a business as 
the love of one woman, and the care of a family of children. 
" It was quite horrid, indeed it was, for a man who had any 
music in his soul ; the mere idea was concentrated picra to his 
moral stomach ; the thought, bah ! that a gentleman could ever 
think of being a daddy, and trotting on his paternal knee a semi- 
yearling baby." 

Mr. Simpson was from the braes of Scotland. For many 
years he had lived an isolated and roving life, among the nows, 
morasses, and lakes of the wilderness, which lies west and north- 
west of Hudson's Bay. He had been taught his catechism at 
kirk, and also a proper respect for the ties of the domestic senti- 
ments. But the peculiar idea of manliness* which grows up in 
those winter realms of danger, privation, and loneliness, had 
gradually habituated him to speak of these relations as desirable 
mainly when the body had expended its energy in striding 
mountains, in descending rocky torrents with boats laden 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 11 

with furs, and in the other bold enterprises of these daring 
traders. 

From him we obtained a description of some portions of 
that vast country occupied by the Hudson's Bay Company; 
and some information on other topics connected with it. 
Life in the Company's service was briefly described. Their 
traveling is performed in various ways at different seasons of 
the year and in different latitudes. In Oregon their journeys 
are chiefly made in Mackinaw boats and Indian canoes. 
With these they ascend and descend the various streams, bear- 
ing their cargoes, and often their boats, from the hej^d-waters 
of one to those of another. In this manner they pass up the 
Cowelitz and descend the Chihilis with their furs and other 
goods ; thus do they reach the head-waters of the northern 
fork of the Columbia, pass over the Rocky Mountains, and 
run down the rivers and lakes to Canada. Farther north on 
the east side of the Rocky Mountain range, they travel much 
on foot in summer, and in winter (which is there the greatest 
part of the year) on sledges drawn by dogs. Ten or twelve 
of these animals are attached to a light sledge, in which the 
man sits wrapped in furs and surrounded by meat for his car- 
nivorous steeds and provisions for himself Thus rigged, the 
train starts on the hard snow crust, and make eighty or one 
hundred miles before the dogs tire. When the time for rest 
comes, they are unharnessed, fed, tied to the bushes or shrubs, 
and the traveler enveloped in furs, addresses himself to sleep 
under the lea of a snow-bank or precipitous rock. When na- 
ture is recruited, the train is again harnessed and put on route. 
The Aurora Borealis, which flames over the skies of those 
latitudes, illuminates the country so well, that the absence 
of the sun during the winter months offers no obstacles to 
these journey ings. Drawn by dogs over mountain and plain, 
under heavens filled with electric crackliuo- light, the traveler 
feels that his situation harmonizes well with the sublime 
desolation of that wintry zone. In this manner these ad- 



12 SCENES IN THE PACI IC. 

venturous men travel from the mouth of Mackenzie's river 
lo York on Hudson's Bay and to Canada, 

Their dwellings are usually constructed of logs in the 
form of our frontier cabins. They are generally surrounded 
by pickets, and in other respects arranged so as to resist any 
attack which the neighboring savages may make upon them. 
They are usually manned by an officer of the Company and 
a few Canadian Frenchmen. In these rude castles, rising 
in the midst of the frozen north, live the active and fearless 
gentlemen of the Hudson Bay Company. The frosts of the 
poles cditi neither freeze the blood nor the energy of men 
who spring from the little Island of Britain. The torrid, 
the temperate, and the frozen zones alike hear the language 
and acknowledge the power of that wonderful race. 

The food of these traders is as rude as their mode of life. At 
most of the Forts they live almost exclusively on the white 
and other kinds of fish ; no vegetables of any description are 
obtainable ; an occasional deer or woods buffalo or musk ox is 
procured ; but seldom is their fare changed from the produce 
of the lakes and streams. At a few of their stations not even 
these can be had ; and the company is obliged to supply them 
with pemican. This is buffalo meat dried, finely pulverized, 
mixed with fat and service berries, and secured in leathern 
sacks. They transport this from latitudes forty-eight and 
nine to different places on Mackenzie's river, and other parts 
of the extreme north. Wild fowls, geese and ducks afford 
another means of subsistence. At York and other posts in 
the neighborhood of lakes, large numbers of these fowl are 
taken in the summer season, and salted for winter use. But 
with all their painstaking, these gentlemen live but poorly ; 
on a diet of flesh alone, and that of an indifferent quality. 
Hardy men are these lords of the snow. Their realm em 
braces one-ninth of the earth. This immense territory Mr. 
Simpson mformed us has a great variety of surface. 

On the north-eastern portion lie extensive tracts of per 
petually frozen mountains, cut by narrow valleys filled with 



TRAVELS IN THE CAL1F0RNIA8. 13 

fallen cliffs, among which dash and roar numerous rivers 
on their way to the frozen sea. Scarcely any timber or 
other vegetation grows in these wastes. A lonely evergreen 
or a stunted white birch takes root here and there, and dur- 
ing the few weeks of summer, mosses and linchens pre- 
sent a few verdant spots in the damp recesses of the rocks. 
But cold winds, laden with hail and sleet, howl over the 
budding of every green thing! The flowers can scarcely 
show their petals and set their seeds, before winter with its 
cracking ices and falling snow embraces them ! 

The section of country which lies about Mackensie's 
river, differs from that described, in having dense forests 
•kirting portions of the valleys, and large plains ot moss 
md linchen, on which feed the deer, buffalo, musk-ox and 
moose. The river itself is, in summer months, navigable 
'or batteaux several hundred miles. It is well stored with 
trout, salmon, w^hite and other fish. But the winters there 
also scarcely end, before they begin again their work of 
freezing land, str( am, and sea. 

The extensive country lying on the head w^aters of the 
streams which run northward into the Frozen Ocean, east- 
ward into Hudson's Bay, and southward into the Canadian 
waters, is composed of sw^amps, broken at intervals with 
piles of boulders and minor mountains, and dotted with 
clumps of bushes, plots of hassocks, and fields of wild rice. 
The waters of these tad" lands form many lakes and lofty 
cascades on the way to their several destinations. The 
roar of these on the dreadful frozen barrenness around, Mr. 
Simpson represented to be awful in the extreme ; so wild, 
hoarse, and ringing are their echoes. 

We are informed that there are considerable tracts of 
arable land on the western side of Hudson's Bay, occupied 
by several settlements of Scotch : that these people culti- 
vate nothing but potatoes, oats, barley, and some few garden 
vegetables ; and are altogether in a very undesirable con- 
dition. He also informed us of a tra^t of tillable land, 



14 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

lying some hundreds of miles north-east of Lake Superior, on 
which Lord Selkirk had founded a colony ; that this settlement 
contains about three thousand peopHe composed chiefly of gentle- 
men and servants, who have retired from the Company's ser- 
vice with their Indian wives and half-breed children. They 
cultivate considerable tracts of land, have cattle and horses, 
schools and churches, a Catholic Bishop and a Protestant 
preacher of the English Church. Some years since, a Mr. 
McLeod, from this settlement, went to Indiana and purchased ;»■ 
very large drove of sheep for ts use. But in driving them a 
thousand miles over the prairies, their fleeces became so matted 
with poisonous burrs, that most of them died before reaching 
their place of destination. 

Mr. Simpson related a few incidents of an exploring expedi- 
tion, which the Company had despatched to the northern coast 
of America. The unsatisfactory results of those fitted out by 
the home government, under Parry, Franklin, Boss, and Back, 
which had been partially furnished with men and means by the 
Company, led it at length to undertake one alone. To this end 
it despatched, in 1838, one of its officers, aceonvpanied by our 
friend Simpson's brother, well furnished with men, instruments, 
and provisions, on this hazardous enterprise. I have since 
been informed, that this Mr. Simpson was a man of great 
energy and talent — the one indeed on whom the Company relied 
for the success of the undertaking. From his brother I learned 
only that the unexplored part of the coast was surveyed, that 
the waters of Davis' Strait were found to flow with a strong 
eurrent westward, and enter the Pacific through Behring's 
Strait ; and that Greenland consequently is an island or con- 
tinent by itself ! The Mr. Simpson of this expedition is now 
known to the civilized world to have trodden the ices and 
snows, and breathed the frozen air of that horrid shore ; and by 
so doing to h*ve added these great facts to the catalogue of 
human knowledge ; and having become deranged in consequence 
of his incredible sufilerings, to have blown out his own brains 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 15 

on the field of his glorious deeds. Our companion, poor 
fellow, was happily ignorant of that sad event, and spoke 
of the expedition only as one of great hardship, yet such as he 
would have gladly shared. His brave kinsman was then 
dead ! 

When Mr. Simpson paused in these interesting narrations, 
our professor of psalmody, who had been beating the table with 
a tuning-fork, opened a solo upon Texas. He had been in that 
country, and was, in his own estimation, as familiar with its 
rivers, plains, forests and destiny, as with the paths across his 
father's sheep pasture. Galveston was a London in embryo : 
Sam Houston had inherited the knee-buckles and shoe-knots of 
Washington's patriotism : the whole country was an Eden in 
which he had obtained the best sight for a grist-mill and the 
finest pond for eels ! In short, we were informed in a tone of 
self-consequence, at least an octave above mi, on any known 
scale of conceit, that himself and a brace of fellow blades, on 
hearing that the government had offered a bounty of land to 
emigrants, went thither, remained long enough to perfect their 
title to a share of the public domain, and were then obliged by 
pressing business to return to the States and leave others to 
fight and die for freedom. 

He had a belief that the Californias would make a respectable 
abode for man, if it were conquered by a bold arm, a little 
music, and made into a Republic by a man, he did not mention 
his own name, whose character for bravery, intelligence and 
taste for the fine arts, he did not say psalmody, would draw 
around him the unemployed intellect and courage of the States. 
In conclusion he modestly remarked, that he himself was des- 
tined to the Californias, but did not say that he intended to 
open there a revolutionary singing-school. 

While this conversation was going on, the good old ship was 
struggling with the tempest. She headed north-westerly, and 
as the storm and swells came from the south-west, she at one 
time lay in the trough of the sea, and then, as the wave bore 
down upon her, swayed to the leeward a moment, rocked unou 



16 SCENES IN THE PACIPTC. 

its summit, and as the surge passed on, reeled to the windward 
and slid into the trough again. This is the bitterest motion 
of a ship at sea, whether he whom it staggers be a " land lub- 
ber " or " salt." The latter finds it difficult to take his watch- 
walk from the windlass to the fore-stays, and swears that such a 
lullaby is as unworthy of the ocean god as it is unseemly for a 
decent sailor, to stand, at one instant with one leg clewed up 
and the other out, and the next clewed the other way, and be 
compelled, at each change, to brace himself back in the 
attitude of being frightened to death by a ghost in the 
shrouds. 

The landsman, may perhaps feel too much awe to swear at 
the great deep, employed in its sublime labors ; or if he dare 
profane thus the majesty of his Maker's movements, his noble 
self is usually the object of so much solicitude as to deny him 
any adequate opportunity of doing so. His stomach will de- 
mand much of the attention which he would fain bestow upon 
other objects ; and it will scarcely be refused what it requires. 
We sat at the table till eight bells. A delightful chit-chat we had ; 
such a variety of wisdom, such splendor of reminiscence, such 
bolts of reason rending and laying bare all the mines of thought 
were there! 

But this and all that we had in expectancy that night ended 
not in smoke ; that would have been land-like ; but in a stealthy 
withdrawal of our company, one at a time, to pay their tribute 
to Padre Neptune. The singing master struck minnr Z:ey first ; 
the fur hunter followed with his war-cry ; the Green Mountain 
lawyer came to the encounter with a throat full of special plead- 
ing ; and after a hot melee each surrendered, on such terms as 
he could procure, all claim to the inborn rights of a quiet 
stomach and clean nose ; and turned in. The night was passed 
by us in the cabin in clinging to our berths. The seamen 
on deck struck the bells, changed the watch, and stood out 
like iron men on the tide of that terrible tempest ! Their 
thrilling "0 he oe" occasionally cut sharply and cheeringly 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 17 

into the hoarse cadences of the storm ! Every other sound 
of living thing was buried in the clangor of the elements. 

The next morning opened with gloomy grandeur. The clouds 
brightened by the first rays of the sun in detached spots only, 
appearing and disappearing in rapid succession, intimated that 
the whole mass of a3rial fluid was fleeing at a fearful pace before 
the unabated tempest. As the light increased into full day, the 
canopy hung so dark and densely down the heavens, that night 
appeared to have retained the half of its dominion. It need not 
touch the water as fogs do ; but the massive heavy fold left be- 
tween itself and the surface of the ocean, a space apparently 
three hundred yards in depth. That was a sight to wonder at. 
I could conceive of nothing in nature so far beyond the 
power of words to portray. Does the simile of a boundless 
tomb, vaulted with mourning crape, shaken by fierce winds, 
half lighted, filled with death-screams, represent it? I can- 
not tell : but such an idea rose as I looked out upon the 
scene. 

Old Ocean, too, was in a glorious mood. I have often seen 
the Atlantic lay with his mighty bosom heaving to the sky, 
calm and peaceful like a benevolent giant slumbering on a 
world of lesser things ; or, to use no figure, I had seen it slight- 
ly agitated, every particle tremulous under a soft breeze, every 
drop sending back the sunshine, or multiplying indefinitely the 
stars of a clear June night. I had seen it when the swells were 
torn by a " dry squall," or an hour's " blow," and heard its 
icebergs crack and plunge ; and seen its fearful waterspouts 
marching so near me that I could hear their awful roar! 
But I had not seen it raised and rent, in the height of its tu- 
mult and power. All this was now before me in the great 
Pacific. 

At ten o'clock the storm had gained its utmost strength. 
The ship was laid to. The waves were dashing over her 
bulwarks. The Captain was standing braced upon the weather 
quarter, dressed in a long pea-jacket, stout sea-pants and 
boots, an oil-cloth cap covering head and shoulders. The 



18 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

watch on duty were huddled under the weather bow and lashed 
to the stays to prevent being washed overboard. The second 
mate stood midship, holding fast to the rigging. All were 
looking at the storm. The ship herself lay like a lost water 
bird, rising, falling, buried andmountiDg again, among the over- 
whelming waves. 

The appearance of the sea! — Who can describe it? Like 
the land, it had its valleys, and mountains, and streams. 
But its vales, instead of flowers and grasses, were cover- 
ed with wisps of torn water ; the mountains instead of 
snowy peaks, were billows, crested with combs of light blue 
water, tipped with foam, perpetually tumbling down and 
forming again, as the floods rushed on, lashing one another. 
And the streams were not such as flow through meadows 
and woodlands among creeping flower vines ; but swift 
eddies, whirling through the heaving caverns of the sea. 

Its voice ! Its loud bass notes ! — What is like it ? Not 
the voice of the storms which assemble with lightning, thunder 
and wind, and pour devastating hail and fire on the up- 
per heights and vales of the Rocky Mountains. Nor is it 
like the deep monitory groan that booms down the Great 
Prairie Wilderness at midnight, growing louder as it draws near, 
until the accumulated electricity ignites in one awful explosion, 
rending the clouds and tearing up the shaken ground ! Nor is 
it like the voice of Niagara. That great cataract of the earth 
has a majestic stave, a bold sound, as it leaps from the 
poised brink to the whirling depths below ! And when 
the ancient woods, with all their leafy canopies and 
ringing crags, stood up around it, and neither the ham- 
mer of the smith, nor other din of cultivated life, cast 
its vexing discords among the echoes, the sounds of Niagara 
must have resembled this sublime duett of the sea and storm ; 
but never equalled it! It was a single note of nature's 
lofty hymns. To the ear of the Indian who stood upon 
the shelving rocks and heard it ; who saw the floods come 
coursing down the rapide, bend upon the brink, and plunge 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFO.INIAS. 19 

plunge with quickened speed into the vexed caldron, sending 
their peals to the rainbowed heaven, they must have borne au 
anthem as grand as his wild mind could compass — greater even. 
His bow must have dropped, and himself and the unharmed deer 
stood together, in mute wonder at Niagara chanting to the shades 
and silence of the old American Wilderness ! 

But the song of the sea ! Is it not more than this ? Miles 
in depth ; hundreds of leagues in breadth ; an immensity drop 
on drop and mass on mass in motion ! The tempest piles up 
the surface into lofty ridges, every inch of which emits a peculiar 
liquid sound, which, mingling sweetly with each other far and 
wide, pulsates through the surrounding air and water ! Sweet 
and boundless melodies of the seas ! We know that the incum- 
bent air takes up a part of them, while another part goes down 
into the still and motionless depths below; the sublime un- 
broken darkness of the sea ! It was unpleasant to feel that the 
screaming cordage of our ships and the quarreling of the hull 
and the waves, should deprive us of hearing the tones of the 
Pacific waters, during the strength of a hurricane, unmarred by 
any other sound. Can it ever be given man to hear it ? It is 
the Creator's great choir ! Ocean tuned by His own hand, and 
swept by the fingers of his tempest ! 

Our good ship, carrying barely sail enough to make her obey 
the helm, beat from the southeast to the northwest. On the 
outward tack we generally made a few miles on our course, a 
part of which we lost on the other. It was vexatious to be 
bufi"etted thus to no purpose ; to have our stomachs in a tumult ; 
our jaws grinding down our teeth instead of eating; but withal 
it was very amusing. I had always thought men in a tolerable 
state of misery, possessed increased capacities to render them- 
selves ridiculous. A number of common-place things proved 
this idea to be true. Turning-in was one of these. This is a 
process of going to bed ; extraordinary in nothing else than the 
aovel manner in which it is performed at sea in a gale. 

The reader will pardon me. Please step into the cabin of the 
Vancouver, and be seated by the nice little grate, filled with 



20 SCENESINTHE PACIFIC. 

blazing coals from the mines of Paget's Sound. You will per« 
haps amuse one eye with Tarn O'Shanter, while with the other 
you explore. The six foot lawyer is gathering toward his berth. 
It is the lower one on the larboard side of the cabin. His 
countenance, you will observe, is a miniature tempest. The 
ship rolls suddenly, his feet slip from under him, and he slides 
under the table, accompanied by a bag of apples, a scuttle of 
coal, Tom, the cabin-boy, and a hot poker ! Coal, apples, and 
the law, strown in indiscriminate confusion ! As one might 
expect, the lawyer extricates himself from his difficulty, enters 
a " nolle prosequi'''' against further proceedings in that direction, 
i.ud stretches himself in his berth, without attempting to per- 
suade his wardrobe to take separate lodgings. 

The fur-trader seems determined to undress. Accordingly, 
when the ship, in her rollings, is nearly right side up, he attempts 
to take off his coat ; unfortunately, however, when he has thrown 
it so far back as to confine his arms, the ship lurches heavily, 
and piles him up in a corner of the cabin ! Odds-blood ! how 
his Scotch under-jaw smites the upper ! It appears that wrath 
usually fights its battles in that part of mortality to a greater or 
less extent. On this occasion, our friend's teeth seem to have 
been ignited and his eyes set blazing by the concussion ! As, 
however, there is nothing in particular to fight but the sea, and 
Xerxes has used up the glory of that warfare, the fur-dealer 
takes to his berth, without further demonstration of himself than 
to say that he thinks " the devil's tail is whisking in the storm,'* 
and that "his oxfoot majesty and the fin-tailed god must bo 
quarreling stoutly about the naiads." 

But the professor of psalmody is not to be prevented by these 
failures from unrobing himself for the embraces of Somnus ; not 
he. " And if the planks of the ship will float me long enough 
it shall be done." He does not say that he is on his way to the 
cciiquest of the Californias ; and that he will strip himself of 
his blue roundabout, as he will that beautiful country of its ill- 
fitting tyranny. His berth is on the starboard side. The ship 
is pitching and dodging like a spent top. How his bravery will 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 21 

end under such circumstances is a question of no little interest 
But that something will soon be done, you perceive becomes 
evident ; for now as the starboard side lowers on the retreating 
wave, he seizes hi« outer garment with both hands, and with a 
whistle and jump that would do credit to a steam-car off the 
track, wrenches himself out of it just in time to seize the edge 
of his berth as the next surge strikes the ship and throws it sud- 
denly on the other side. His vest comes off with more ease and 
less danger. Boots, too, are drawn without accident. But the 
pants ! they are tight ! He loosens the buttons ; slides them 
down ; with one hand he holds fast to the berth ; pulls off the 
left leg with the other, and is about extricating the right foot, 
but, alas ! that sudden jerk of the ship scatters his half-clad 
person, bravery, pants and all, among the trembling trunks, 
stools, table-legs, &c., to the manifest detriment of the outer 
bark of his limbs ! At this moment Mr. Simpson is in the midst 
of his favorite passage — 

" Ah Tam, ah Tam, thou '11 get thy fairin', 
In hell they '11 roast thee like a herin' ' 

The professor of psalmody, after some search, finds himgeli:' 
again, and with courage unimpeached, lies down in silence. 



CHAPTER II. 

The next Morning — Eating — Mermaids — Cupid — A Sack of Bones on Its 
Legs — Love — A Grandsire — She was a Woman — Chickens — A Black 
Son o' the De'il — A Crack o' the Claymore — Sublimity — Tropical 
Sight — Paternal Star — Cook — A Sense — Edge of the Trades — A Night 
— " On Deck" — A Guess — A Look and Doubt — To be Duvibfoundered — 
A Bird Note — Mouna-Kea — Christmas Eve — Watch-Fires of Angels — 
Birds — Fish — Homestead — Hawaiians — The Land — Moratai — Mooring 
—Landing at Honolulu— A Slice of Bull— Poi— The Death Wail- 
Hospitality — The Lover and his Destination — The Fur Hunter on the 
Back Track — The Professor of Psalmody. 

The next morning the storm was unabated. The furies seem- 
ed abroad. It was a cold sleety day. Both the atmosphere 
and the ocean looked like maniacs. Not a shred of the visible 
world seemed at ease with itself ! Commotion, perpetual growls, 
screams and groans, came up from the tempestuous deep ! 
Above were clouds, hurrying as from a falling world 1 Below 
was the ocean shaking ! 

Eating on this day was attended to in a very slight degree. 
When the dinner bell rang we were all on deck, standing in 
utter abandonment, to whatever the Fates might have in re- 
serve for us. Not one would have broken a Christmas wish- 
bone with the prettiest girl living, to decide whether we 
should go below or be tumbled overboard. Captain Duncan 
was a skillful diagnostician in all such cases. He urged us 
below. But the thought of bringing our nasal organs into 
the full odor of bilge water, the steam of smoking meat, po- 
tatoes, and bean soup, arrested our steps. The good Cap 
tain, however, pressed us with renewed kindness, and we 
dragged ourselves down to the table. Ye Mermaids, how 
could ye ever learn to eat at sea ! How could ye, rocked to 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 23 

sleep in infancy by the billows, educated in the school of the 
tempest, learn to hold your heads still enough to comb your 
glistening tresses ! and much more get food within your pearly 
grinders ! 

Pictures of woe were we, starving, yet loathing food ; thirst- 
ing, yet unable to drink ; wishing for a mote of the stable 
world to look upon, yet having nothing but the unstable water 
and air ; imprisoned on the rolling deck, with no foothold, or 
any odor of flower or earth around. I am reminded here how 
interesting to the antiquarian would be the inquiry, whether 
or not Cupid was ever at sea in a storm. If he were, he 
would have crowned Hogarth's immortality with its richest 
wreath, if transferred to canvass, in the act of running from 
the dinner-table, throwing his quiver behind him, and tip- 
ping his roguish face, bloated with the effort of a retch- 
ing stomach, over the taffrail. Poor fellow, it makes one 
quiver to think if there ever were a Cupid, and he ever took 
passage from the Columbia river to the Hawaiian islands, and 
ever did attempt to eat, and while doing so were obliged to 
conform to the etiquette of sea sickness, how sadly he must 
have suffered, and how unlovely the arrow-god must have 
become ! 

This sea-sickness, however, is a farce of some consequence. 
Like the tooth-ache, fever and ague, and other kindred follies 
of the body it has its origin in the faculty will please an- 
swer what. But seriously. It is an effort of our nature to 
assimilate its physical condition to the desires of the mind. 
Man's natural home as an animal is on land. As an intellectual 
being he seeks to pass this bound, and resorting to his capacity 
to press the powers of external nature into the service of his 
desires, he spikes planks to timbers, commits himself to the 
waves, rocks on their crests, habituates head and foot to new 
duties, and, girded with the armor of his immortal part, thafi 
wealth of Heaven, goes forth, the image and representative of 
his Maker, to see, to know, and to enjoy all things. But a 
truce to philosophy. We are on the sea. The elements have 



24 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

raved twelve days and are at rest again. Quiet and variable 
breezes from the north push us pleasantly along ; appetites re- 
turn ; we shave our chins, comb our hair, and begin once more 
to wear the general aspect of men. 

On the nineteenth of December our group of characters was 
honored by the appearance of a fine honest fellow from the 
steerage. He had suffered so much from sea-sickness, that he 
appeared a mere sack of bones. He was a native of one of the 
Southern States ; but the Yankee spirit must have been born iu 
him : for he had been to the Californias with a chest of carpenter's 
tools, in search of wealth ! Unfortunate man ! He had built 
the Commandante-General a house, and never was paid for it ; 
he had built other houses with like consequences to his purse ; 
had made many thousands of red cedar shingles for large 
prices and no pay ; and last and worst of all, had made love, 
for two years, to a Spanish brunette, obtained her plighted 
faith for marriage, and did not marry her. It was no fault 
of his. During the last year of his wooing, a Californian 
Cavaliero, that is, a pair of mustachios on horseback, had been 
in the habit of eating a social dish of fried beans occasionally 
with the father of the girl, and by the way of reciprocating his 
hospitality, he advanced the old gentleman to the dignity of a 
grandsire. 

This want of fidelity in his betrothed wrought sad havoc in 
our countryman's afi'ections. He had looked with confiding 
tenderness on her person, returned her smile, and given her one 
by one his soul's best emotions. Such affections, when they 
go forth and not lost, leave a void to which they never return. 
He was alone again without trust, with nothing on earth, or 
rather, on the sea, to love but his carpenter's tools. The object 
of his regard had disgraced herself and him. To avoid the 
scene of his misery, he had invested in horses the little money 
he had accumulated ; accompanied the Hudson's Bay Trading 
Company to Oregon, and having cultivated land a year or two 
in the valley of the Willamette, had sold his stock and property, 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 25 

and shipped for home, with every tooth strung with curses 
against the Californian Spaniards. 

California itself, not including the bodies or souls of the 
people, he thought to be a desirable country. The very atmos- 
phere was so delicious that the people went half-naked to enjoy 
it. Hard to abandon was that air, and the great plains and 
mountains covered with horses, black Spanish cattle, and wild 
game. The fried beans, too, the mussels of the shores, and the 
fleas even, were all objects of pleasure, utility or industry, of 
which he entertained a vivid recollection. But that loved one ! 
she was beautiful, she was kind, alas ! too kind. Ho loved her, 
ibe was wayward ; but was still the unworthy keeper of his 
heart ; still a golden remembrance on the wastes of the past — 
lovely, but corroded and defiled. His opinion was that she wag 
a woman ! 

The weather became sensibly milder each day as we moved 
on our course ; the water warmer, the fish and fowl more abun- 
dant. The latter presented themselves in considerable variety. 
The white and grey albatross, with their long narrow wings, and 
hoarse unmusical cry, cut through the air like uneasy spirits, 
searching the surrounding void for a place of rest, and finding 
none ! Our cook contracted a paternal regard for these birds ; 
the basis of which was, that whenever he threw overboard the 
refuse of the table, they alighted in the wake of the ship, and 
ate the potatoe peelings, bits of meat, &c., with a keen appetite. 
*' Ah," said he of the spit, " it is a pleasure to cook for gentle- 
men in feathers even, when they eat as if they loved it." But 
he was still more partial to Mother Carey's chickens. In a fair 
morning these beautiful birds sat on the quiet sea in flocks of 
thousands, billing and frollicking in great apparent happi- 
ness. 

" There's your poultry, gentlemen," cried his curly pate, 
peering from the galley. " Handsome flocks these about 
the stacks of water ; plumper and fatter, I'll warrant ye, 
than any that ever squawked from the back of a Yorkshire 
DonkcY. No need of cramming there to keep life agoiu'. 



26 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

They finds themselves and never dies with pip or dys- 
pepsy." 

" Hout wi' yer blaguard pratin', ye black son of the De'il ; 
and mind ye's no burn the broo' agen. Ye're speerin' at yer 
ngly nose, an' ne'er keu the eend o' ye whilk is upward. Ye 
sonsie villain ; when I'se need o' yer clatter I'se fetch ye wi' a 
rope's-end. And now gang in and see yer dinner is fit for 
Christian mooths." 

This salutation from our Scotch mate, drove in the head of 
our poultry man, and we heard no more dissertations on sea- 
fowl during the voyage. At dinner the mate congratulated the 
company on the excellence of the pea-soup, remarking that it 
'' smacked muir o' the plaid than usual," because he "had gi'en 
the cook a crack o' the claymore on his bagpipe ; a keekin, as 
he war, at things wi'out when he should ha' been o' stirrin' his 
meal." Trifling incidents like this occasionally . broke the 
monotony of our weary life. Our latitude and longitude were 
taken daily at twelve M., and the report of these and the dis- 
tance from the islands always gave rise to some prophetic an- 
nouncements of the day and hour when we should anchor in the 
dominions of Kamehameha. The evenings also furnished a few 
diversions and pleasant objects of contemplation. Bathing was 
one of the former. After the shadows of night had set in, we 
used to present ourselves at the mainstays, and receive as 
much of the Ocean as our love of the sublime by the gallon, 
or our notions of cleanliness demanded. And when the hoot- 
ing, leaping, and laughing of the ceremony were silenced, 
the cool comfort of the body left the mind in listless 
quietude, or to its wanderings among the glories of a tropical 
sky. 

It was the 24th of December; the mid-winter hour. But 
the space over us was as mild and soft a blue as ever covered 
a September night in the States. The stars sent down a deli- 
cate sprinkling light on the waters. The air itself presented 
some peculiar aspects. It was more nearly transparent than 
any I had ever breathed ; and there seemed to be woven into 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 27 

all its thousand eddies a tissue of golden and trembling mist, 
streaming down from the depths of heaven ! There was p, sin- 
gle sad spot on the scene. The north star, so high and brilliant 
in the latitude where I had spent my previous years, was 
gradually sinking into the haze about the horizon. I bad in 
very early life looked with greater interest upon that than any 
other star. The little house which my deceased father had built 
on the shore of a beautiful lake among the green woods of Ver- 
mont, stood " north and south" upon the authority of that staa-. 
And after he had died at that humble outpost of the settle- 
ments, leaving me a boy of nine years, his death-bed, the little 
house, and the star which had guided my parent's hand in laying 
the foundation on the brow of the deep wilderness, came to be 
objects of the tenderest recollection. I was sorry to see it ob- 
scured ; for it always burned brightly in our woodland home ; 
and was the only thing which, as years rolled on, remained as- 
sociated with paternal love. 

I remember, too, another class of emotions that gave occu- 
pation to my heart in those beautiful nights. We thought and 
talked of Cook. He had ploughed those seas long before 
us ; had discovered the group of islands to which our voyage 
tended ; had met a fearful death at the hands of the inhabi- 
tants ; and some of his bones yet lay, scraped and prepared for 
the gods, in the deep caverns of Hawaii ! The waters rippling 
at our ship's side, had borne him ; had rushed in tempests, 
and lain in great beauty around him; had greeted the dis- 
covery flag of the brave old Fatherland, and heard its can- 
non boom ! We were sailing under the same flag. It was 
not, indeed, the same identical bunting which floated in 
1789; but it was the emblem of the same social organiza- 
tion, of the same broad intelligence; the insignia of the 
same Power, whose military embattlements, grain fields 
and homes, gird the Earth ! I was glad to approach 
Ihe Hawaiian Islands on the track of Cook, under the old 
British flag. 

Is there a human sense which derives its nutriment from 



J8 JOtNES IN THE PACIFIC. 

the thing.' whieb arc gone? Is there a holy-flower which 
?iprin^ up among the withered tendrils of buried beauty ? a 
strong and vigorous joy, which, like the Aloe, blooms a moment 
on the cold midnight of heavy sorrow ? Is there an elevation of 
the whole being into a higher condition, when we wander among 
the trees, the ruins and the graves of former times ? It may 
be m. For surely he who treads the dust of Rome and stands on 
\h»i ruins of Thebes, ha.s a species of previous existence wrapped 
about him. He sees in the one case armies thronging the 
Ap|H«u-way, hears the multitude surging in the forum under the 
ejjthuftiasm kindled by Cicero, and feels that the eagle of free- 
dom is throwing the pinions of bis protection over the energies 
of man. 

In the other case ho bears the voice of the mighty chieftain 
Bummoiiing hi^ millions of su]>servient hands. The hammer and 
the C-'nael, from the beginning to the end of day, send up their 
vast dm to the passing hours. The mountam columns of Thebes 
stand up in the presence of the pyramids ! And a subject land 
bows in servitude to a great and controlling intellect. We arc 
there, and form an integral wave in the sea of vitality that 
flowed forty ages ago ! We venerate the broken tomb of the 
past. We knock gently at its gate, and find our bodies and 
minds grow vigorous and happy in those sublime imaginings, 
which carry our entire selves back to see and converse with 
those men, the mere ruins of whose deeds still astonish man- 
kind ! 

We retired to rest this evening in unusually fine spirits, 
for, with the aid of the good breeze piping down from the 
northwest, we expected sight of land by the next sunset. 
Our sleep, however, was not remarkably deep, for I recol- 
lect that the wind freshened during the night, as it generally 
does in the edge of the trades, and compelled the morning- 
watch to take in sail The noise occasioned by this move- 
ment was construed, by the wakeful ear of our desires, into 
a shortening canvass to prevent running on land ; and wo 
turned out to see it. But it was yet beyood view. The 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 29 

night, however, was worth beholding. It was one o'clocV ; 
the sky overhead was clear and starry ; around the north- 
western horizon hung a cluster of swollen clouds, like 
Moorish towers, fciuitiy tipped with the dim ligiit. In the 
southwest lay another mass, piled in silent grandeur, dark 
battlement-like, as if it were the citadel of the seas ! The 
waters were in an easy mood. The ship moved through 
them evenly, save that she cut the long smooth swells more 
deeply than the space between them, and occasionally 
started from his slumber a porpoise or a whale. 

We turned-in again and slept till the breakfast dishes clat- 
tered on the table, and Tom informed us that Mr. Newell 
supposed he had seen at sunrise the looming of the land in 
the southeast ! That announcement brought us to our feet ; 
sleep gave place to the most active efforts at hauling on and 
buttoning up the various articles of our wardrobe. " On 
deck ! on deck ! where away the land ?" and we tasked 
Dur eyes with their utmost effort to scan the nature of the 
dark embankment on which the mate had founded his au- 
guries. The excitement at length drew all the passengers 
ind officers to the starboard-quarter ; each man looked and 
expressed himself in his own way. To guess, was the 
iTankee's part ; to look and doubt, was John Bull's plea- 
sure ; to wuss it might be true, was the Scotch contribu- 
tion ; and to reckon awhile and commend himself to be 
iumbfoun bred if anything could be known about it, was 
the Carolinian carpenter's clincher. The matter left 
standing thus, we obeyed Tom's summons to breakfast. 

While engaged in filling our countenances with the reali- 
ties of life, we were startled with a bird's note from the deck ! 
It proved to come from one of those winged songsters of the 
islands, which often greet the toiling ship far at sea, and with 
thei-r sweet voices recall to the soul, weary with the rough 
monotony of an unnatural life, the remembrance and antici- 
pation of the land ; the green and beautiful land ; where the 
glorious light brightens the flowers ; where the flowers shed 



30 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

their perfume on the air, and the fruits of trees, and shrubs, 
and plants, are poured into the lap of the ripened year. 

Who does not love the birds 1 who is not made better 
and happier by hearing them sing among the buds and 
leaves, when the streams begins to babble, and the mosses 
to peer above the retiring snows 1 when the violet opens, 
and meadows and forests change the brown garb of winter 
for the green mantle of the young year ? No one who 
loves nature and can sympathize with it. 

But this one — perched in the rigging of the ship in which 
we had been imprisoned for weeks — a messenger from the 
glens and hills sweetly chanting our welcome to them, was 
an object of the tenderest interest. It had the cordial greet- 
ing of our hearts ; and while talking about it, we could not 
forbear reaching our hands towards it, and grieving that we 
had no intelligible language wherewith to convey our salu- 
tations, and ask the tidings from its beautiful home. The 
captain consulted his reckoning, and found that we lay 
about one hundred miles northwest-by-north from the island 
of Hawaii. 

The breeze, instead of decreasing with the ascent of the 
sun, as it had done for a number of days past, held on ; and 
with all the weather studding-sails out, we made about ten 
knots during most of the morning. About ten o'clock, Mr. 
Newell, who had been watching that embankment of cloud 
in the southwest, which had excited our hopes at sunrise, 
touched his hat to Captain Duncan and remarked, " That 
cloud retains its bearing and sliape very much like the loom- 
ing of land, sir. We must be in sight of some of the islands : 
we made ten knots by the log, sir, during my watch." 

The Captain had expressed his belief that he could sail his 
ship under that cloud without lead line, or copper bottom; and 
it was still his opinion that an English commander like him- 
self, an old salt of thirty years' standing, would be as likely 
toknowthe complexion of the land as any gentleman with less 
experienced optics. However, he sent Tom for his glass and 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFOR> AS 31 

peered into it with the keenest search. It was deligl tful, 
meantime, to us land-luhbers, to watch the workings of his 
face. There was a gleam of triumph creeping over it as he 
first brought his glass to bear upon the object. But as the 
highest part of the pile came into the field of vision, his 
cheeks dropped an instant, then curled into the well-known 
lineaments of chagrin, and then into those of rage, as if he 
would rather all the land were sunk, than he be found mis- 
taken in a matter so purely professional. 

" Damn the land !" he at length exclaimed ; *^ I suppose 
it must be Mauna-Kea," and gave the glass to a passenger. 

The breeze piped up and we moved on merrily. Merrily 
flew the gladdening waters from the prow ; steadily as the 
masts stood out the canvass on the clear blue sky ; and 
brightly beamed the warm and mellow day on the sea. The 
Scotch mate, who swore by any dozen of things that his 
memory happened to seize, affirmed by his blood and the 
whisky that had been buried seven comfortable years at his 
auld aunt's homestead, that he would see the lassies of Hono- 
lula before he was a day older ; the professor of psalmody 
sung, "Here's a health to thee, Tom Moore ;" the Hawaiian 
Island servantsof the Hudson's Bay Company began to count 
their money preparatory to the purchase of poi ; the crew 
began to tell yarns about " sprees" they had enjoyed in 
Chili, New Holland, Liverpool, Vera Cruz, St. Petersburgh 
and Montevideo ; the six foot bootswain began to whistle ; 
Tom began to grin ; a former cabin-boy began to think of 
his mother, whom he expected to meet in the islands ; the 
visitor bird chirped in the rigging ; and all for joy ! For 
now the lofty peaks of Hawaii loomed above the clouds, 
the sea-weed gathered on the prow, and the odor of the 
land puffed over us. 

At five o'clock the breeze slackened again, and until 
nightfall the ship barely moved enough to obey her helm. 
Near ten in the evening it freshened, but as we were in the 
neighborhood of a lee-shore, the captain thought it prudent 



32 BCENESINTHEPACIFIC 

to keep good sea-room, and accordingly shortened sail and 
lay off a part of the night. 

This was Christmas eve, that nucleus of so much social 
and religious joy throughout the Christian world, and a 
merry one it was to us. Not so in the ordinary sense of 
the trencher and cup, the music, dance, and the embrace o( 
kindred ; nor rendered such by the pealing anthem or the 
solemn prayer, swelling up through the lofty arches hung 
with boughs of ever-green and the prophetic star of Beth- 
lehem ! But nature herself seemed worshipping ! The 
heavens were unmarred by a single breath of mist, except 
what rested upon the heights of Hawaii ; and on all its vault 
the stars shone, not as brightly as in the frosty skies of the 
temperate zones, but with a quiet subdued lustre, as if they 
were the watch-fires of angels assembled to celebrate the 
earth's great jubilee. 

The Pacific, too, lent the scene its most charming condi- 
tion. Wide an-d gently curved swells rolled down from the 
north, smooth, and noiseless, except when they dashed upon 
our noble ship, or w^ere broken by the dolphin coursing 
through and dotting them with phosphorescent light ! The 
sea-birds were hailing each other a merry Christmas. The 
grey and mottled albatross, flying from billow to billow, 
occasionally clipped the waves with his sword-shaped wings, 
and shouted gladly to the elements ! The gulls and other 
birds sat in countless flocks in every direction, sinking, 
rising and chattering on the panting sea ? And schools of 
tiny fish with bright golden backs swam by the side of the 
ship, as children, after long absence, gather with cherish- 
ed remembrances around the old homestead on this blessed 
night. 

At dawn on the 25th one of the islands lay six mile dis- 
tant in the southeast. The sky was clear ; the sea smooth ; 
the porpoises blowing about us ; aright whale was spouting 
a hundred rods astern ; and our Hawaiians, looking from the 
mainstays at the land, were uttering their beautiful language 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 3*i 

of vowels with great volubility. Poi (the name of their 
naticwal dish), wyhini (woman), and iri (chief), were the 
only words I then understood ; and these occurred very 
often in their animated dialogues. Poor fellows ! they had 
been five years absent from their poi ; five years separated 
from the brown beauties of their native isles ; five years 
away from their venerated sovereign. No wonder, there- 
fore, they were charmed with the dim outline of their native 
land ! A mass of vapor hung along its heights and con- 
cealed them from view, save here and there a volcanic spire 
which stood out on the sky, overlooking cloud, mountain, 
and sea. As the light increased to full day, this cloudy mass 
was fringed on the edge nearest us wuth delicate golden 
hues ; but underneath it and inward toward the cliffs, the 
undisturbed darkness reached far eastw^ard, a line of night 
belting the mountains mid-heaven. Downw-ard from this 
Ime to the sea, sloped red mountains of old lava, on which 
no vegetable life appeared. On a few little plains near the 
beach the cocoa-tree sent up its bare shaft ; and as the 
clouds broke away we discerned clumps of rich foliage on 
the heights. But generally the aspect was that of a dreary 
broken desert. 

We sailed past the western cape of Moratai, and laid our 
course for the southeastern part of Oahu. At two o'clock 
our good old ship lay becalmed under the lofty piles of ex 
tinct craters, six miles northeast of Honolulu. At four the 
breeze freshened, and bore us down abreast of the town. 
Soon after a boat came rapidly from the shore with a pilot 
on board b}^ the name of Reynolds ; a generous, jolly old 
American gentleman, of long residence in the islands. He 
greeted his countrymen with great kindness, and having 
brought the ship to anchor outside the reef, invited us to 
go ashore in his boat. It was manned with islanders. They 
rowed to the entrance of the channel, rested on their 
oars while the angry swells lifted us at one instant on the 
summit of tke waters and at another dropped us into the 



34 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

chasm between them, till the third and largest came, whe*; 
by a quick and energetic movement, they threw the boat 
upon the land side of it, and shot us into the harbor with 
the rapidity of the wind ! We passed the American whalers 
which crowded the anchorage ; ran under the guns of the 
fort ; struck the landing at the pier ; leaped ashore among 
crowds of natives, besprinkled with an occasional Eu- 
ropean face : followed an overgrown son of John Bull to 
another man's house, took a glass of wine, and scattered 
ourselves in various quarters for the night. 

Thus terminated our voyage from the Columbia river to 
the Kingdom of Hawaii. The distance between Oregon 
and these islands is about three thousand miles. We had 
sailed it in twenty-one days. 

The next morning the Vancouver entered the harbor with 
the land-breeze, and anchored near the pier. The '' steer- 
age" and the Hawaiians now came on shore. The former 
settled his hat over his eyes and sought a barber's shop ; 
the latter repaired to t-he town with their friends. I fol- 
lowed them. Whenever they met an old acquaintance 
they immediately embraced him, and pressed noses together 
at the sides. After many salutations of this kind they ar- 
rived at the market-place ; made a purchase of poi ( a fer- 
mented paste of boiled taro) , and seated themselves with 
their friends around it. The poi was contained in large 
calabashes or gourdshells. With these in the midst they 
began to eat and recall the incidents of pleasure which 
had sweetened their early years. 

Their mode of conveying the poi to their mouths was 
quite primitive. The fore and middle fingers served in- 
stead of a spoon. These they inserted to the depth of the 
knuckles, and having raised as much as would lie upon 
them, and by a very dexterous whirl brought it into a globu- 
lar shape upon the tips, they thrust it into their mouths, 
and licked their fingers clean for another essay. They had 
been seated but a short time when others joined them, who 



T K A V ii L fe i N THE C A L I F o R N I A S 

brouffht sad news. One of their former friends had recen 
died ! On hearing this their hands dropped, and the dread- 
ful wail ewai burst from every mouth, as they rose and went 
towards the hut in which the dead body lay. It was situ- 
ated a short distance from the hotel ; and during the night 
I heard that wail ring through the silent town ! A more 
painful expression of sorrow I hope never to hear. The 
next morning I went to the burial. The wail was sus- 
pended during the ceremonies ; but for several succeeding 
nights it continued to break my slumbers. A few days after- 
ward I saw them gathered again near the market-place em- 
ployed with their pou The wages of five years' service was 
nearly exhausted. They had given a large portion to the 
chief of their district, and spent the rest in feasting and cloth- 
ing their poor relatives. They were poor when I lost sight 
of them. But those whom they had fed were sharing their 
pittance with them. The most affectionate and hospitable 
people on earth are these Hawaiians. 

Our Carolinian remained a few days at Honolulu, and 
took passage in one of P. J. Farnham & Co.'s ships for New 
York. He insisted to the very last of my intercourse with 
him, that his Californian brunette was a woman ! 

Mr. Simpson took lodgings with that distinguished slice 
of a John Bull to which I have already referred. He em- 
ployed himself with much industry upon his duties of set- 
tling accounts with his host, who, as the agent of the Com- 
pany, had sold the lumber, fish, &c., exported from Oregon 
to these islands. After tarrying a month at Honolulu, he 
returned in the Vancouver to Columbia River. He was a 
fine fellow, full of anecdote and social feeling, talented and 
modest ; and I doubt not will eventually rise to the highest 
rank in the Company's service. 

The professor of psalmody stopped at the hotel and pre- 
pared to exhibit himself. His first essay was to deliver to 
tfhe American Missionaries and others, certain letters which 
he had obtained in Oregon. His next was to aw^aken the 



36 8CEH1 iFTTk. I Pacific. 

genius o! music. Foi Ihis purpose he attended a number 
of singing parties, at \»»hich he attempted to make himself 
useful to three young Americans, who sang with masterly 
taste. In the opinion of the professor they " needed a little 
burnishing," which he volunteered to give them. Unfortu 
nately for the art, however, they were vain enough to sup- 
pose they had Ir .rned music before his arrival ; and did not 
therefore value his suggestions so highly as he himself did. 
But the professor persevered. His forbearance knew no 
limit towards the deluded tyros. On all public occasions 
he never failed to throw out many invaluable hints as to 
movement, ascent, and style generally. He even encou- 
raged them to hope that, with all their imperfections, they 
might attain a respectable degree of excellence if they 
would attend to his instructions. Whether or not his exer- 
tions were ever properly appreciated by these gentlemen is a 
question whch remains unsettled to this day. But the most 
interesting event which occurred to the professor in Hono- 
lulu was his interview with the sister of the young lady 
whom he had forsaken. She was the wife of a Missionary, 
a zealous servant of her Master. He called on her and 
was invited to remain to tea. I was present. Everything 
was sad as the grave ! The mercies of Heaven were im- 
plorcii upon his blighted conscience ! He left, little hap- 
pier for the reminisccTices awakened by the visit, and soon 
after sailed for California. I heard of him as an ingenious 
man in mending a watch on shipborj-d, but never as one of 
moral integnty or as the Napoler.n of the Cdlifornias ! 



CHAPTER III. 

Hawaiian Islands — Spaniards first visited them—HooT ili Wyhini — Ac- 
count of Coolr's visit— A god— A Robber and his Death— Vancouver's 
Visit — Kamenameha I. — A Treaty— Cattle — Origin of the Islands — 
Poetry, and another Book— Legends — Toiu — Philosophy of Civilization 
— A Way to the End— What is Taught — Gratitude— Departure from 
the Islands — Lava and Cauldrons— Goats and Men— Passengers— Cap- 
tain, Mates and Crew — A Human Managerie — Northing— Variables — 
Ten days Out — Too nauseous for Music — Uncombed Hair — Exhila- 
rated — Lovely — Growing Fat— Ten Knots — Ten more days out— An 
Ocean Don- -American and English Tars— A Squall — A new mode ol 
taking Eels — Lemd ho — Mission — Wrath — Monterey. 

This group of islands was first \isited by a Spanish ship, 
during the early explorations of the northwest coast of 
America, by Admiral Otondo, Viscaiyno, and others. The 
traditions of the natives say, that a small vessel was driven 
ashore on the southern coast of Hawaii, that two of the 
crew only escaped death among the breakers, and that these 
intermarried with the natives and left children. I saw 
some descendants of these men. Their European features 
and the use oi a few corrupted Spanish words, satisfied me 
of the truth of the legend and the ship's nationality. 

Captain Cook next visited them in 1779. The circum- 
stances of his visit and massacre, as given me by a very 
aged chieftainess, Hoopili Wyhini, will interest the reader. 

" Captain Cook's men were allowed to steal a canoe be- 
longing to our people. Our chiefs asked that it might be 
returned ; but Captain Cook had made us believe that he 
was a god, and thought to take what he pleased. Our tra- 
ditions asserted that gods would not rob, and we told him 



38 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

SO. But the canoe was not restored. Our people thought, 
therefore, that if Cook would steal from them, it would be 
right to steal from him ; so in the night time, they swam under 
water a long distance to the ships, loosened the boat from 
one of them, and having brought it ashore, broke it in pieces 
for the nails. Cook was very much enraged at the loss of 
his boat, and threatened us with destruction if it were not 
returned. But it could not be ; it was destroyed. 

*' A number of days passed in very angry intercourse be- 
tween our people and the foreigners, during which a chief 
suggested that so unjust a being could not be a god. But 
all others said he was the great Kono. This was in our 
days of darkness. Why do you press me to remember such 
unpleasant things ?" 

I explained that I was anxious to know the truth of the 
matter, and she continued : 

*' At length Cook came on shore with an armed force, 
and went to the king's house to persuade him to go on 
board his ship. The chiefs interfered and prevented him. 
Cook was angry, and the people were in a great rage. He 
went down to the shore where his boat lay. The people 
gathered around him. The chief who did not believe him 
a god, tried to kill Cook, but Cook killed him ; and then 
the people who belonged to that chief, killed Cook. It 
thus became clear that Cook was no god ; for we thought 
our old gods could not die. These were our years of sin, 
before the Pono (Gospel) came among us; and it is not 
pleasant to speak of them." 

This venerable chieftainess was advanced in womanhood 
at the time of Vancouver's visit, in 1779. She gave the 
following account of it : 

" When Vancouver arrived at Hawaii, Kamehameha was 
the chief of three districts on that island. These were Kona, 
Kohala, and Hamakua. That year he fought against the 
reigning king, and conquered the whole island. Kameha- 
meha did not sec "^'ancouver at Kona, where he first ac 




,■lll!I!^ 



'M' 



liiiiiiP 



iH]piii'-'"Wijll|i|!)Uj^;l 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIF ORNIAS 

4:?f*ored. But a little after the time of our national holidays^ 
which occurred in the latter part of the Christians' Decem- 
ber, he came to Kealukekua Bay. There I first saw him. 
Kamehameha also visited him at that place. The flag- 
sliip, brig and store-ship, appeared to be under the general 
command of a man whom we called Puk6ki ; the captain 
of the store-ship we called Hapilinu. 

" While this squadron remained in the bay, myself and 
thirteen others went aboard. They were Kamehameha, 
his three brothers and one sister, myself, my aunt, and two 
other women. The remainder were chief men. After 
being at sea four days, we anchored in Kealukekua Bay in 
which Cook was killed. 

" Kamehameha was very friendly to Vancouver — according 
to our old rules of hospitality, he furnished him with a concu- 
bine. He gave me to him. I passed nine days on board his 
ship. Kamehameha presented to him a great many hogs and 
bananas, and received trifling presents of old iron in return. 
At the end of nine days I left the ship, in company with some 
other chiefs, to visit my sick brother, and did not return. 

" On another occasion, Kamehameha, his chiefs, and two 
Englishmen who had been adopted by some old chiefs and 
made a part of the king's counsel, named John Young and 
Isaac Davis, were passing the day on board the flag-ship, 
when Kamehameha addressed to Vancouver these words t 
' E nana mai ea u, eia ka aina,' which being interpreted, 
means, 'Look after us, and if we are injured, protect us.' 
To this Vancouver assented. An instrument in writing, 
which he said would bind his sovereign to keep the pro- 
mise he had made, was framed and presented to the king. 
I do not know whether Kamehameha understood what was 
written ; nor do I know whether or not the king signed it. 
But until the French captain. La Place, came, and abused 
us, we thought the English would protect us ; because Van- 
couver promised to do so. Kamehameha always said the 
English were our friends — that the islands were his, and 



CENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

these friends would keep off all danger from abroad* 
It is not clear to me that they have been faithful to the 
words of Vancouver. 

•' Vancouver built a tent and high tower on shore. In 
the former he sometimes slept. In the latter his learned 
men pointed bright instruments at the moon and stars. A 
doctor, whom we called Makaua, visited the volcano. He 
had sore lips when he returned. He brought down some 
sulnhur, saltpetre, and lava. 

" Vancouver gave me two fathoms of red broadcloth. To 
the king and chiefs he al?o gave some of the same. He said 
the king of England sent it to us. I had two husbands at this 
tJme. The one was Kalanimamahu, the son of Keona, and 
the other Hoopili, the late governor of Maui. The first was 
the father of Queen Auhea ; the latter is buried among the 
people near the church. Those were days of darkness. 

" Vancouver gave to Kamehameha four cattle, three cow3 
and one bull. He said to Kamehameha,* feed them five years, 
and then begin to kill and eat.' They were shut up in a field 
several years, but broke out one after another, and went to 
the mountains. Very few were killed for thirty years. 
During the last ten, many have been slaughtered for their 
hides and tallow. Vancouver killed one of the calves be- 
fore he left us. They were brought from California. 

" Vancouver had an interpreter whom our people called 
Lehua ; and another who was a native chief in the island 
of Taui. This latter had made a voyage in an English 
whale-ship, during which he had learned the language of 
that nation. By means of these men, he asked questions, 
and received answers in regard to our old ways. Once he 
asked ' whence came these islands V and our chiefs re- 
plied — ' Hawaii is the child of the gods Papa and Wakea, 
and the other islands are the children of Hawaii.' 

" The chief priests then said Hawaii was in a very soft state 
immediately after birth, but a god descended from the skies 
and called—' E Hawaii Ea, Hawaii Oh,' and the god 



TRA'^ELS IN THE CALiFORNIAS. 

Hawaii came forth, communicated to the pulpy land a gyra- 
tory motion, made it come around him, and assume a per- 
manent form. Vancouver replied, ^ right.' 

*' I am sixty-five years old and must die soon." 

I was exceedingly interested in these conversations with 
this remarkable w^oman. She had been one of the wives of 
Kamehameha the First ', had commanded his navy of v>'ar 
canoes, during his conquests, and was at the time of my in- 
terview with her the acting executive of Maui, and a 
scholar in the Missionary Sabbath school ! 

I remained three months in these beautiful islands, en- 
joying the revelations of these chronicler of old and curious 
times. The king, chiefs, foreign residents and Missionaries, 
perceiving my avidity in gathering information respecting 
the country and its people, rendered me every aid in their 
power to facilitate my inquiries. Nor do I ever expect 
again to find a richer field of the strange, the beautiful, the 
w^onderful and the sublime, than was there presented to ms. 

The legends of a thousand generations of men, living 
apart from the rest of mankind, among the girding depths 
o^ the Pacific seas ; the stories of the-ir gods and goddesses ; 
the tales of their wars ; the fate of bad princes w' hom their 
deities reprimanded from the skies ; the beatification of the 
good on whom their divinities scattered blessings; thei* 
forms of government ; their religious ceremonies ; the' 
genealogies ; their poetry, more of it than Greece ever had^ 
and still sung by bards travelling from village to village , 
their dances; their rejoicings at a birth; their wailingg 
over the dead, and, the solemn ceremonies of their burials ; 
ire a few of the interesting subjects investigated. 

The intense interest, as well as the amount of writing re. 
quired to exhibit these matters, will furnish my best apology 
for passing them in this place. They may hereafter appear 
in a separate volume. But I cannot allow my readers to 
pass from the Hawaiian kingdom, without presenting to their 
ce the interesting fact, that a hundred and seven thou- 



42 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC 

sand savages have been brought within the pale of civiliza- 
tion and Christianity through the instrumentality of ths 
Americans. 

Twenty-five years ago a nation occupied the kingdom of 
Hawaii which sought its happiness from a systematic viola- 
tion of the fundamental laws of Creation. Their food was 
under the tabu, or ban ; so that the powerful in civil and 
religious affairs appointed the best edibles for their own use, 
and made death the penalty to their wives, daughters and 
inferiors, if they tasted them. The fire kindled to ccok the 
food of the men was tabued ; it was death for woman to 
kindle hers from it, or cook or light a pipe at it. The per- 
son of the king was tabued. It was death to touch him, or 
any article which he had used, or to step on his shadow, or 
the shadow of his house. And at the hour of midnight hu- 
man victims were slaughtered, and piled on scaffolds with 
dogs and hogs, around the temples which they woald con- 
secrate to their deities ! ! 

Here human nature had been forced from its true appe- 
tencies to the material and spiritual Universe. Its misery 
followed as an inevitable consequent. But the Hawanans 
were thinkers. The violated ordinances of the world recoil- 
ing on them at every tread of life, forced on them the thought 
of obedience and its blessings. And they rose in their power ; 
ate from the full hand of Heaven ; prostrated their ancient 
temples ; burned their hideous gods ; made the civil power 
subservient to the common good ; and restored themselves, 
after immemorial ages of degradation, to the quiet reign ot 
the natural laws. It is most remarkable that the American 
missionaries were on their voyage to the islands while these 
things were being done ! 

The law of relationship between these people and their 
Maker had been lost among the crude follies of idol-worship 
and civil tyranny. These they had broken down by a mighty 
blow. The fragments of their temples, altars and gods, were 
strewn o v^er the land. An entire nation looked on the flowers^ 
the stars, the rivulet, the ocean, the birds and themselves^, 




Cocoa Tree of Hawaii. — P. 4& 



TRAVELS IN THE CAL FORNIAS. 43 

and believed in no God ! ! The vessel which brought to 
them the Christian faith anchored at Honolulu ! The event, 
which shook the hill, darkened the sun and opened the 
graves of Judea, was proclaimed, and gave its hopes of 
Heaven to a hundred thousand people ! A nation thus en- 
tered the world as its loved homestead became obedient to 
Its organization ; called back the wandering religious sym- 
pathies to the worship of the true God ; opened to every 
faculty the sphere of its legitimate enjoyments ; and made 
human nature again a component part of creation, existing 
in harmony with it and its Author. 

Man must incorporate himself into that great chain of 
relationship and sympathy which runs from inorganized 
matter to the first feeble manifestation of vegetable life, and 
thence upward through bud, leaf and blossom, and upward 
still along the great range of animal existence to the think- 
ing and feeling principle, and thence to God. It is in this 
manner alone, that he can feed his faculties with their own 
aliment. And it is his ignorance of the dependence of each 
portion of his body and mind, on each and every external 
existence, which makes thorns for his feet and keeps up a 
perpetual warfare between himself and the immutable con- 
ditions of his true happiness. 

I am sincerely persuaded that the regulating principle of 
human culture, is to sympathize with every form of creation 
within our knowledge ; to enter the world as our home ; to 
seat ourselves at its hearth ; to eat its viands and drink its 
blessings ; to slumber in its arms ; to hear the floods of har- 
monious sounds which come up to us from the matter and life 
libout us ; and to yield our being to the great dependent chain 
of relationship which binds God's material empire, His 
lealms of mind and Himself, in one sympathizing whole ! 
The universal requirement is, that man's nature shall be 
brought into harmony with creation and its Author. This is 
•the wholelaw of our being. Obedience to it is the unalterable 
condition of happiness ; the only true test of civilization ; the 



44 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

only state in which our powers, physical and mental, will 
operate harmoniously ; the only position of our existence 
which looks forward on the path of our destiny, with any cer- 
tainty that thought, feeling, and act, will lead to results 
pleasureable to ourselves and in harmony with the rest of 
the world. 

It is a want of proper reflection on this matter which has 
rendered abortive so many efforts to civilize different por- 
tions of the race. In India, in the forests of the west, in every 
other place, except the Hawaiian Islands, where the societies 
of Protestantism have made efforts to ameliorate the condi- 
tion of the barbarian, nearly the whole acting force has been 
brought to bear on the cultivation of the religious sentiments. 
The theory has been, make them Christians, and everything 
else will follow as a promised favor of Heaven. 

No error has cost the church more money and life tiian 
this. The savage has been taught the doctrines of salvation, 
and his direct relations to the Deity. Thus far, well. But 
there was no corresponding teaching to the rest of his na- 
ture. His physical wants and the mode of supplying them, 
remained unchanged. All his relations to the external world 
continued the same. And the largest number of the strong- 
est desires of the mind being thus left, to contend with those 
which the missionaries attempted to excite and purify, it is 
no wonder that so little has been accomplished. 

In the Hawaiian Islands the missionaries found a people 
living in villages, having a property in the soil, and depend 
ing chiefly upon its culture for their subsistence. They 
also found them destitute of every kind of religion, and de- 
sirous of receiving one : they were a talented people and 
anxious for new ideas. This was a remarkable state of 
things. Their physical adaptation to the natural world was 
so far in advance of the mental, that the latter only required 
to be placed on an equal footing with the former, to produce 
the civilization and moral rectitude which they now possess. 
The result of missitf-nary efforts in these islands, if well 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 45 

understood, may lead to some valuable changes in the mod« 
of operating elsewhere. It will be learned that while the 
physical wants and the mode of supplying them, are op- 
^^used to the ordained condition, it is vain to expect the 
Christianized state. 

We may, meanwhile, rejoice at this single result. It is one 
of the great events of the age. Twenty thousand Haw^aiiaiis 
are members of Christian chiwches. Seventy thousand read 
and write. The whole people are better taught, more in- 
telligent, and farther advanced in civilization than are the 
citizens of the Mexican Republic. Their Government is 
more paternal, and administ-ered more kindly than any other 
known to civilized man. But I must hasten homeward. 

The hospitality of countrymen during my tarry in these 
islands, the kindness of countrymen, bestowed on me, a 
stranger, fleeing from my grave, and sad — away from those 
on whose hearts I had a right to lean — how can I ever for- 
get them ! While those beautiful islands have a place in 
my memory, they will be associated with some of the most 
grateful recollections of my life. It is painful to think that 
I may never again grasp the hands of some noble spirits, 
whom I saw and loved in the kingdom of Hawaii ! 

To the sea ! on board the bark Don Quixote, Paty, master, 
bound for Upper California! We left the harbor of Honolulu, 
under a sweet land breeze from the forests crowning the vol- 
canic hills in the rear of the city, and bore away to the west- 
ward along the coast. The mountains of decomposing lava 
rose from the water side in sharp curving ridges, which, ele- 
vating themselves as they swept inland, lay in the interior 
piled above the clouds. Some of them were covered with the 
dense green foliage of the tropics ; and others were as desti- 
tute of vegetation as when they were poured, a liquid burning 
mass, from the cauldron of the volcartoes. Many valleys dot- 
ted with the hay-thatched huts of the natives, their fields of 
taroy and orchards of bread-fruit, cocoa and plantain, lay 
along the shore. 1 he lower hills were covered with frolick- 



46 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

iiig goats, and here and there on the projecting cliffs, stood a 
group of stalwart figures, brown as the rocks, shouting their 
pleasure at seeing our ship, with all sails steadily drawing, 
push through the waves. Having rounded the southwestern 
cape, we laid our course through the channel between Oahu 
and Taui, with the intention of availing ourselves of the north- 
ern " variables" to carry us to the American coast. 

In the cabin we had seven passengers ; Mr. Chamberlain, 
the fiscal agent of the American Missions at the islands — a 
man of a fine mind and unpretending goodness, who had un- 
dertaken the voyage for the benefit of his health — Mr. Cobb, 
the mate of a whaler, a plain honest man, going home to die 
of an injury from the falling of a spar on shipboard ; a spend- 
thrift of Philadelphia, returning from a two or three years' 
spree in the Pacific ; and a brace of Char^estown boys, who 
were on their way homeward for goods anc' weethearts. 
One of these was an excellent little fellow, wiw » soul full 
of music and justice ; the other a singer of bass and an acting 
agent general, in the same depu^tment. The only representa- 
tive of the fair sex w^e could boast of was a half-breed Ha- 
waiian lass, going to visit the '' Major,'' her father, an old 
mountaineer from New England, who was keeping a small 
shop at Santa Barbara, in Upper California. 

Captain Paty was a little man, with a quiet spirit, and a 
generous heart ; a New England man who alw^ays kept his 
eye to the windward, and gave his sails to the stoutest 
breeze without fear of clew^ lines or stays. The mate, a 
lusty English tar of the Greenwich school, was a jolly old 
boy, whose face was always charged with a smile, ready to 
be let oiF on the least occasion of conferring happiness. 
Our second mate was an Italian, who had left his country 
for doubtful reasons, married an American girl in the city 
of New York, buried her, and was now roaming the seas 
in the double capacity of second mate and sliip's carpenter, 
for the means of educating his only child. 

Our crew was a collection of odd-fellows. The first in 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 47 

neight and importance was "Yankee Tom;" the second 
a pair of English renegadoes, from the royal navy or else- 
where ; next came a number of old tars, who hailed from 
the earth generally ; then several Hawaiians, and last of 
all, the cook ; as dark a piece of flesh as ever wore wool, 
and as independent a gentleman as ever wrestled with a 
soup pot. Thus we were all manned fore and aft. The 
extremes of cursing and prayer, of authority and subservi- 
ency, law, divinity, and merchandize, were there. 

Indeed, we had a piece of everything in the way of 
thought, feeling, taste and form, requisite to furnish a very 
respectable human menagerie. And if the shade of our 
friend Cuvier had leisure on his hands to look in upon us, 
and observe the paws of our lions, the teeth of our tigers, 
the grins of our apes, the wool of our lambs, and the men- 
tal and physical qualities of each species, I doubt not he 
was satisfied with the diversity of their powers and the 
completeness of the collection. 

When leaving the latitude of the islands, we had a dis- 
tant view of the Taui. It was studded with mountains of 
moderate elevation, clothed with evergreen forests. It ap- 
peared beautiful enough to be the island of Indian Mytho- 
logy under the setting sun, where the good will find eternal 
hunting, fishing, and women of unfading beauty. But our 
ship stood away under a strong breeze, and we soon lost 
sight of the island in the mist and shades of night. 

While making our northing we experienced a great va- 
riety of weather. On the first two or three degrees it was 
comparatively mild, and the generous breezes appeared to 
push us on with a right good will. But on reaching the lati- 
tude beyond the Trades, the winds from the northwest over- 
took us. These currents of air in the winter and spring are 
exceedingly rough, gusty and cold; and being often alternat- 
ed with the warm breezes from the torrid zone, produce con- 
ditions of the atmosphere, which, in more senses than one, 
may be termed " variables." The balmy breath of one day 



48 SCENES INTHE PACIFIC 

contrasts strongly with the frozen blasts of another ; the soft 
bright clouds from the south, with the harsh dark shadows 
from the north, and the rippling sea when the former fans 
it, with the ragged waves which roll under the latter. 

Ten days out ; latitude thirty-eight ; wind fresh from th« 
northwest ; Mr. Chamberlain quite ill, but able to be on 
deck with his thermometer ; the Charlestown boys too sick 
to make music ; the Philadelphia blade's hair uncombed ; 
Mr. Cobb very much exhilarated with the bold movement 
of the ship; the half-breed Hawaiian lass as lovely as cir- 
cumstances permitted ; the crew growing fat on salt beef ; 
the ship, making her ten knots, headed towards Cape Men- 
docino, and everything else in some sort of condition ; thus 
stood the affairs of our floating home. 

Ten days more passed on, and little change in these things 
occurred, for better or w^orse ; save that, when we arrived 
within a hundred miles of the coast, the northerly winds be- 
came less violent, and their temperature higher. Our old bark 
was as brave a Don among the waters as one would wish to 
see. He was of American origin, a fine model of an ocean 
cavalie-r, and did battle with the floods as fearlessly as any 
ship that ever doubled the Cape. Our tvTie on board, there- 
fore, went off rather agreeably; for the speed of a landsman's 
passage at sea is the absorbing element of its pleasures. 

The officers and crew had employment enough to occupy 
them, and were usually in that agreeable mood of body and 
mind which produces a good appetite, hearty joking and 
sound sleeping. When the winds were stiff, they busied 
themselves in keeping sails, ropes, spars and masts at their 
appropriate duties ; and w^hen a w^arm sun and steady 
breeze came, the sailors overhauled the wormy biscuits, re- 
paired old sails, picked oakum, put the spun-yarn wheel 
in motion, while the Italian carpenter drove jack-plain, 
and the English mate gave us a specimen of rope-splicing 
and bending sails according to the rules at Greenwich. 
I noticed on board the Don Quixote, and elsewhere during 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORN.AS. 49 

my wanderings, a difference between British and Ameiican 
seamen, which I believe to be quite general. It is this. The 
Briton is better acquainted with the things to be done on deck 
and among the rigging than the American is. He splices a 
rope better ; he knows better how to make a ship look trim 
and comely. But he knows comparatively nothing about the 
hull of his craft. His seven years apprenticeship has been 
devoted to learning the best mode of sailing a vessel and 
keeping her in good condition. He learns nothing more. 
The American, on the other hand, begins at the keel, and 
reads up through every timber, plank and spike, to the bul- 
w^arks. And although he does all the minor labor of the 
fair-day deck work with less neatness and durability, yet he 
will do it so well, and throw his canvass on the winds with 
such skill and daring, as to outsail, as well as outmanage 
his very clever rival. The Fatherland should be proud of 
Jonathan. He is a rough, hard-featured lad ; and in right 
of primogeniture, as well as other indisputable relations, 
he must succeed to the paternal power over the seas. 

At meridian, on the 16th of April, we ascertained our- 
selves to be about seventy-five miles from the American 
coast. All were weary of the voyage. It had been exceed- 
ingly monotonous ; not even a storm to break its tedium. 

At two o'clock of this day, however, we had an incident in 
the shape of a squall, from the northwest. It was attended 
with chilling winds which fell upon us like a shower of freez- 
ing arrows, and drove everybody, except officers and seamen, 
below. The blowing, the raining, the clatter of quick feet 
upon deck, the cry of the sailors, " heave-a-hoy !" as they 
shorten sail and brace up the yards ; the heavy swells, beat- 
ing the ship like ponderous battering-rams ; the air, that up- 
per ocean, running its flood most furiously upon that which 
lies beneath ; our vessel riding the one as if escaping from 
the wrath of the other ; the upper surface of the airy seas, 
crowded with fleets of thunder-clouds chasing each other 
madly, and sending out the fire and noise of terrible conflict . 



50 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

These are the features of that squall. Our good ship 
reeled and trembled under the shock of the waters and 
winds, as if her planks and timbers were separating. 

Below at such a time was doubtless our safest berth, but 
that was far from being peculiarly comfortable ! About h-all 
of the passengers were on each side of the cabin, holding at 
the berths ; and when the ship rose on a billow and careen- 
ed, it straightened those on the larboad side like lamprey- 
eels hanging to rocks ; while, as the surge passed on, the 
ship careened the othey way, making eels of those on the 
starboad side ! The furniture tumbled, the steward giving 
chase fell in the midst of it ; the Hawaiian lass attempted to 
gain her berth and fell ; and tumult, danger, sublimity, and 
the ridiculous, united to provoke alternatively our laughter, 
fear and admiration. It cleared up in an hour, however, 
and we went on agviin pleasantly, under a three-knot breeze. 

On the evening of the 17th, we heard right gladly the 
cry of " Land ho !" Where away ?" " A little on the 
starboard bow !" I was in the cabin at the time. Any 
other word spoken with a greater volume of voice would 
have passed unheard. But land ! land ! the solid land ! 
with its odor of earth and flower, is a word which, if utter- 
ed in a whisper, has deep music for one who has for twenty 
odd days been stunned by contentious waves ; a sweetness 
and vigor of meaning to the weary wayfarer on the seas, 
which must be heard, — " Land ahead." 

Its winged messengers already twittered in the rigging ! 
The shores loomed on the edge of the horizon ! The 
white cliffs on the north side of Monterey Bay, in Upper 
California, were in sight ! We kept our course towards them 
till daylight-down, and then beat off and on till the dawn 
of the following morning. 

Jtpril iSth, The land, the glorious old land, is near us on 
our left — five miles away ! The cattle of the Mission Santa 
Cruz are grazing on the hill ! The matin bells are ringing 
from its tower, and the arrowy light is routing the darknesi 



, yfifi'llpi'l" 




TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIA S. 51 

from the Californian mountains ! A morning of the blooming 
spring poured down from Heaven on this Italy of America ! 
A sunrise on the land ; and the conquered night where it 
very properly may be, running wild over the seas ! 

A breeze from the west drove us slowly down the bay, so 
near the shore that we had a clear view of it. At the 
northeast corner of the bay is a green gorge, down which 
flows a small stream of pure water. Near its mouth, on a 
snug little plain, stands the mission of Santa Cruz, with its 
chapel and adobie Indian huts. Around it are some fields, 
on which the Indians raise grains, vegetables an4 grapes. 
Beyond this, to the northward, the country swells away 
into lofty hills, covered with grass and sprinkled with copses 
of pine and oak. 

From Santa Cruz down to Monterey, the land is broken 
by low hills, too rough for general cultivation, upon which 
grow a few trees of a soft and worthless character. But the 
greenness of the whole surface in the spring of the year, and 
the absence of any abode of man, make it very appropriate 
pasture-ground for the wild horses, cattle, mules, and the 
grisly bears, lions and elk, that herd upon it. 

About five o'clock we round to, under the Castle of Mon- 
terey. The boat is lowered, the captain and part of the pas- 
sengers get aboard of her, and shove off for the landing. 
The ship meanwhile lies off and on within hail. When a 
hundred fathoms from the shore we are hailed by the cus- 
tom-house barge, and ordered back to the ship ! Whereupon 
a parley takes place, during which we are informed that 
California is in a state of revolution, and that no foreigners 
can enter the country. 

I was emaciated with sea-sickness, enfeebled for want o! 
fresh food, and altogether so miserable at the idea of not 
dining that day upon Californian beans and beef, that I made 
a desperate effort to express in Spanish the honest rage of my 
heart at such treatment. But having uttered French instead 
of Spanish wrath, I was about correcting myself, when a 



62 8CENESINTHEPAC1FIC 

!ean villainous physiognomy, supported a lank, long-armed 
and long-shinned carcass, in lieutenant's epaulettes, replied 
in French, '' Ah^ mon frere Frangais^"^^ and immediately 
gave orders for us to land. The boat therefore ran through 
the surf, grazed upon the rocks, and lay dry on the beach. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Mother Earth — Revelation — Americans and P»-itish in Prison — A Guard— 
A Governor — An Interview — An Alcalde — A Passport — A running Sa- 
lute — Cries for Air and Water — Despair — A Horrid Night — Starvation 
— Dungeons — A Demand — Signals — A course adopted — A Leaf of Hi? 
tory — General Echuanda and his Deeds — A Tennessean Hunter and a 
Clerk — A Camp Formed — A League — A March — An Attack — A Ban- 
ishment — Independence — An old Method of Rewarding Friends — A No- 
tification — A Junto — Wagers and Seuoritas — A Stratagem and its Con- 
sequences — Names of Prisoners. 

On the land ! The human frame derives its vital elements 
from the generous land ! The earth is our mother, and she 
seems to rejoice when her children tread her threshold and 
ask her for bread and happiness. 

We inquired the cause of the reported tumult in the coun- 
try, and were answered in brief whispers ! The speakers 
looked cautiously around them for listening ears and Spanish 
rapiers. It was difficult to find a man with an English tongue 
and a white skin, who dared converse alone with us on any 
subject. Indeed, it was impossible to do so. For whenever 
the attempt was made, some Spaniard drew stealthily near to 
listen ! And when the gentleman from the ship left the land- 
ing for the town, in company with some American and Britisih 
residents, the government officers mingled among them, and 
changed the conversation as often as it turned upon what thev 



TKAVELB IN THE CALIFORNIA S. 53 

tei rned '' the revolution." Men of stout hearts even spoke 
liule. Life appeared to hang upon a breatli in Monterey ! 
\\ c entered the house of an American merchant by the name 
of Larkin, and sat down to tea. We did not eat alone ! An 
officer of the government sat with us ! Conversation ran on 
general topics. The cause of the apparent trepidation was 
inquired into by an American from the Don Quixote, but 
nothing could be elicited. The official sat erect, swelled 
his person into dignity, ate heartily, drank deeply, rose first 
from the table, an intimation that we might follow his iUus- 
trious example ; burned his fingers in smoking a paper 
cigar, and at length rolled his greasy form out of doors. 

" Rid of you at last, thank God," said a little Englishman, 
who had dropped in during supper, *' and now for talk inside 
of ceilings." We soon learned from Mr. Larkin and others, 
that one hundred and fifty odd Americans and Britons were 
thirsting and starving in the prisons of the town and destined 
to be sacrificed to Spanish malignity ! The question arose. 
Can they be saved ? It was hoped they might ; it was re- 
solved on our lives that they should be ; while all in a low 
voice spoke of the uncertainty of life for an hour in Monterey! 

The first duty, on setting foot in California, is to report 
oneself to the governor, and obtain from him a written per- 
mission to remain in the country. This I proceeded to do. 
Mr. Larkin was obliging enough to accompany me to the 
governor's residence. We found before it a small number 
of men, who were usually complimented with the cognomen 
of " guard." They consisted of five half-breed Indians, and 
what passed for a white corporal, lounging about the door in 
the manner of grog-shop savans. Their outer man is worth 
a description. They wore raw bull's-hide sandals on their 
feet, leathern breeches, blankets about their shoulders, and 
anything and everything upon their heads. Of arms, they 
had nothing which deserved the name. One made preten- 
sions with an old musket without lock ; and his four com- 
rades were equally heroic, with kindred pieces, so deeply 



5-s • SCENES IN THE PACIFIC 

rusted, that the absence of locks would have been an un- 
portant item in estimating their value. 

We passed this valorous body, ascended a flight of stairs, 
and entered the presence of governor Juan Baptiste Alva- 
rado ; awell-formed, full-blooded, Californian Spaniard, five 
feet eleven inches in height, with coal-black curly hair, deep 
black eyes, fiercely black eye-brows, high cheek bones, an 
aquiline nose, fine white teeth, brown complexion, anci the 
clearly marked mein of a pompous coward, clad in the 
broad-cloth and whiskers of a gentleman. 

When we entered he was sitting behind a kind of writ- 
ing-desk, at the farther end of the room. He rose as we 
entered, and received us with the characteristic urbanity of 
a Spanish body without a soul ; waved us to chairs, when 
he would have seen us tumbling from the balcony ; smiled 
graciously at us with one corner of his mouth, while he 
cursed us with the other ; seated himself, laid up his arms 
and hands on the upper shelf of his abdomen, and asked if 
the ship had anchored ! 

El Goubernador had sundry reasons for making this inquiry 
concerning the Don Quixote. The chief one, however, was, 
that he and his officers, like all their predecessors, had been 
in the habit of looking on the arrival of a ship in the port of 
Monterey as a discharge of debts and a license for new levies 
on their credit. Let it not be supposed that I believe a Cali- 
fornian Spaniard is ever so far false to his nature, as to wish 
his debts paid, while his credit will supply his wants. My 
investigations into the character of his progenitors both In- 
dian and Spanish, will always preserve me from such an 
error. Nor would I have it believed, that the transplanted 
chivalry of the Andalusians does not absolutely boil and 
bubble, at the bare thought of not being able to plunder from 
the rest of mankind a gentleman's living. Any such impeach- 
ment of the sagacity and scrupulousness of these men would 
be a wrong against which my sense of justice would most 
vehemently protest In plain words, then, at the time the 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 55 

Don Quixote came into the bay, Alvarado and his officers 
were deeply in debt, and distressed only to select means of 
paying them, accordant with Californian honor. The arrival 
of a ship in port furnished just these means. The manner 
in which it did so may be unworthy of specification. 

El Alta California is a department of the Mexican Repub- 
lic ; and by law the moneys collected for port-dues and duties 
belong to the revenue of the central government. But as the 
right to life, property, and the pursuit of happiness is, among 
the Californian Spaniards, construed to authorize both indi- 
viduals and States to defraud, plunder and murder, if they find 
it safe and lucrative to do so, the freemen, or rather the Gov- 
ernor of California and his subalterns, were in the habit of 
commuting a large portion of the port-dues and duties, for 
certain sums of money and quantities of goods for their own 
personal use. Their capacity for this kind of plundering 
formed in part the basis of their credit with foreign mer- 
chants and traders, from whom they obtained their supplies. 

Hence the anxieties of Sa Excellentissimo about the bark. 
If she had come to anchor there must necessarily be a small 
chance for robbery in the tonnage dues ; and if richly laden 
with goods subject to duties, she would be quite a mine, 
which he already dreamed himself plundering with golden 
success. As soon as we could turn his attention from these 
hopes of gain, Mr. Larkin informed him of my wishes, and 
with much deference suggested the humanity of transferring 
me from idleness on shipboard to the enjoyment of Castilian 
industry ashore ; to wit, lounging, grinning, sleeping, and 
smoking rolls of paper tinctured v/ith " the weed." 

Sa Excellentissimo found it difficult to comprehend the 
necessity of the request^ inasmuch as the bark might come 
to anchor for my quiet and health, in which case Fwould be 
permitted as seamen were, to be on shore during her stay in 
port. But being informed that there were no goods on board 
the bark, that it was not intended to bring her to anchor, and 
that, consequently, neither bribes nor Mexican tribute would 



66 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

be paid to Don Juan Baptiste Alvarado, El Goubemador 

iel Alta California, he frankly confessed that he saw no 
necessit) , indicated by his interest, why I should ever have 
existed, and still less made any of my pleasures dependent 
on him or his Alta California. 

This I esteemed, as in all chivalry I was bound to do, an 
exhibition of the great elevation of character as well as an in- 
dication of the height from which Sa Excellentissimo had 
descended to reach my case ! Therefore, 1 bowed assent to 
the majesty of such philanthropic and truly civilized opinions. 
What man in Castilian presence could do otherwise 1 But 
a doubt still hung over the eyebrows of the don. He looked 
at my height, six feet Green Mountain measure ; at my ward- 
robe, consisting of a Hudson Bay Company's frockcoat of 
blue, a speckled vest from London, pants of English extrac- 
tion, boots from the lapstones of Lynn ; and, shrugging his 
shoulders like a grisly bear in an effort to be a gentleman, 
said we could go to the alcalde ; then with most sovereign 
emphasis bowed us out of his presence ! 

The alcalde was at home, or rather in his adobie den ; for 
there is neither a home nor the semblance of it in all the 
Spanish world. He was taking his siesta, or midday nap, on 
a bull's hide in the corner of his apartment. The dog, which 
had barked us into his presence, had awakened him ; so that 
when we entered the room, he was rolling his burly form 
towards a chair. After being well-seated, and having with 
some difficulty brought his eyes to bear upon us, he was 
pleased to remark that, the weather was fine, and that various 
other things existed in a definite state ; as that his dog was 
very fat ; the bean crop gave good promise ; the Hawaiian 
Islands were ten leagues from Monterey ! ! ! the Californi- 
ans were very brave men ; and that the Don Quixote had 
not come to anchor ! ! To each of these announcements I 
gave an unqualified assent. 

Having ascertained by these means that I was well- 
mstructed in beasts, beans, men and geography, he imme- 



TRAVELS IN THE CALlF0RNI--w8. 57 

diately took me into favor, expressed great surprise that my 
friend should have thoutrht that he could refuse my request, 
and assured me that it gave him infinite pleasure to write 
me a permission of residence. Here it is. When the 
reader is informed that it was an impromptu production, he 
will be able to estimate, in a faint degree indeed, the in- 
telligence and genius of the Californians. Only one hour 
and a quarter were consumed in bringing it forth ! 

Mr. Thomas J. Farnham pasagero en la barca Americana Don Gluixott 
habiendama manifesta do el pasporte de su consul y queriendo quidar en 
tierra a (vertarblesse) en su salud le doy el presente bolito de des en barco 
en el puerta de Monterey 1 1 

A 18 de Abril de 1840. 

Antonio Ma. Orio. 

A permission this to remain on shore as long as might be 
necessary for the restoration of my health ! Having received 
it with many demonstrations of regard, we took our leave of 
the illustrious dignitary under a running salute from his dog, 
and repaired to el casa del goubernador (the governor's 
house) . The dog accompanied us. He appeared to rejoice 
in our presence. After he saw us pass into the governor's 
door he howled piteously, and trotted off toward the prisons. 

We obtained from Sa Excellentissimo a written confir- 
mation of the alcalde's document, and returned to the house 
of Mr. Larkin. There w-e met a number of Americans and 
Britons, from whom we learned that their countrymen w'ere 
famishing unto death in the prisons of the town ! A con- 
sultation, held in an upper room, in w^hispeis, under the 
dreadful ceitainty that death would be the penalty if it be- 
came known to the demon government, ended the labors 
of that day and night ! The house of my friend was but a 
few rods from some of the prisons, and when all was still at 
midnight, I could hear, between the breaking surges on the 
beach, the prisoners cry — 

" Breathe fast, for God's sake ! I must come to the grate 
soon or I shall suffocate !" 



SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

** Give me water, 3^ou merciless devils ! give me water !" 
*•' You infernal sons of the Inquisition, give me drink or fire 



on me 



I" 



And then another voice at the grate exclaimed, " Give 
us something to eat ! O God, we shall die here ! We can't 
breathe ! Half of us can't speak !" 

And then another voice, husky and weak, said " Why !" 
in a tone of despairing agony, which became so low and 
inarticulate that I could not hear what followed. I had not 
seen the prisoners, but their cries banished sleep and all 
desire to rest. I therefore went out upon the balcony and 
seating myself in a dark nook watched, as well as I was 
able, the movements in the town. 

A portion of the troops were on duty as an armed patrol. 
The tap of the drum and the challenge, " Quin vive ?" with 
the reply, <' Californias ;" " Quin jente 1" and the response, 
*' Mexicanos," broke in upon their heavy, sounding tramp! 
About four o'clock the men in the castello, or fort, became 
alarmed by the cracking of dry brush in the neighboring 
wood, and the patrol rushed to their rescue. It proved to 
be the echo of their fears. The patrol soon returned to 
their posts, and silence again reigned. It was a horrid 
night ! Nature was laughing and bright on earth and in the 
sky. But fiends had gone forth to mar her beauty. The 
same spirit which had devastated the virtues and freedom 
of half the earth was abroad in the wilds of California, as 
of old in Chili, torturing those whose courage their bravado 
could not subdue, or their pretension intimidate ! 

The sun came up next morning most brightly in that clear 
blue sky of California : but it shone on sadder hearts than I 
had ever before seen. The flowers were creeping up along 
the streets ; and the grasses, invigorated by the winter rains 
and the warm days of spring, were growing on the hills ; the 
cattle and wild animals roamed about enjoying the rich liberty 
which nature gave them. They possessed no qualities which 
could excite the wakefulness of Spanish malignity ! They 



TRAVELS IN THE C \ 1. F O U V I A S. f)9 

were _o\vIn^ and frolicking out their freedom on the kind 
and ])eautiful earth. But man was raising the murderous 
blade against his fellow I 

Mr. Larkin made arrangements with the government to- 
day to furnish the prisoners with food and drink. Their 
cells were examined and found destitute of floors ! The 
ground within was so wet that the poor fellows sunk into it 
several inches at every step. On this they stood, sat and 
slept ! From fifty to sixty w^ere crowded into a room 
eighteen or twenty feet square ! They could not all sit at 
once, even in that vile pool, still less lie down ! The cells 
were so low and tight that the only way of getting air enough 
to sustain life, w^as to divide themselves into platoons, each of 
which in turn stood at the grate awhile to breathe ! Most of 
them had been in prison seven or eight days, with no food 
except a trifling quantity, clandestinely introduced by a few 
daring countrymen outside. When I arrived at the prisons 
some of them were frantic ; others in a stupor of exhaustion ; 
one appeared to be dying ! An American citizen went to 
the governor with a statement of their condition, and demand- 
ed that both Americans and Britons should be handsomely 
treated ; that they should have air, food, drink, permission to 
bathe, and dry hides wherewith to cover the mud in their cells. 
Since our arrival the Don Quixote had been lying off and 
on. She usually ran out one morning and swept into the 
harbor the next. This circumstance, together with the fact 
that this American was always on the shore when the vessel 
passed the anchorage, making signals to her, which neither 
himself nor those on board understood, created the idea that 
he was an official of the American Government, and as 
such, had rights which it would be well to respect. This 
impression was much strengthened, both by the accidental 
circumstance of his w^earing a cutlass with an eagle upon 
its hilt, and his holding restraints imposed on his acts as 
highly insulting and disrespectful ! This course of con- 
duct had the effect designed. Those cowardly apologies of 



60 SCENES INTHE PACIFIC 

men became thoroughly impressed that he bore in his own 
person the combined powers of the American Republic and 
the Rritish Empire. Clothed, therefore, with authority so 
potent, he took measures for the relief of the prisoners. 

But, before entering upon the narration of these measures 
it will be proper to give a history of the events which led to 
the imprisonment ofthese men, and their intended immolation. 

In 1836, a Mexican General by the name of Echuandra 
was the Commandant General of Upper California. Some 
years previous, as will be particularly shown in another 
place, he had come up from Mexico, with a band of fellow- 
myrmidons, and having received the submission of the coun- 
try to the authorities of that Republic, commenced robbing 
the Government for which he acted, and the several inte- 
rests which he had been sent to protect. Nothing escaped 
his mercenary clutches. The people, the missions, and 
the revenue were robbed indiscriminately, as opportunity 
offered. A few of the white population of the country par- 
ticipated in these acts. But generally the Californians were 
the sufferers ; and, as is always the case with unhonored 
rogues, raised a perpetual storm of indignation about the 
dishonest deeds of those whom they desired to supplant, for 
the purpose of enacting the same things. An occurrence of 
this kind was the immediate cause of the Revolution in 1836. 

A vessel had cast anchor in the harbor of Monterey. Gen- 
eral Echuandra, not having that honorable confidence in the 
immaculate integrity of the custom-house officers, which 
thieves are accustomed to have in one another, placed a guard 
on board the craft, to prevent them from receiving bribes for 
their own exclusive benefit. To this the officers demurred ; 
and in order to free their territory from the creatures of one 
whose conscience would compel him to receive bribes for hi3 
own pocket instea-d of theirs, they sent their own clerk, a 
young rascal of the country, by the name of Juan Baptiste 
Alvarado,to inform the general that it was improper to sug- 
gest, by putting a gtiard on board, that the officers of the ship 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. ^1 

which lay under the fort, either intended or dared attempt 
to evade the payment of duties ! ! 

The General, however, was too well acquainted with his 
inalienable rights, to be wheedled out of them in this man- 
ner ; and manifested his indignation toward the clerk, for 
attempting to abtrude his plebeian presence on his golden 
dream, by ordering him to be put in irons. Alvarado, how- 
ever, escaped. He fled into the country, rallied the farmers, 
who still loved the descendants of Philip the Second more 
than El Presidenfe^ and formed a camp at the Mission of 
San Juan, thirty miles eastward from Monterey. 

Near this mission lived an old Tennessean by the name of 
Graham ; a stout, sturdy backwoodsman, of a stamp which 
exists only on the frontiersof the American States — men with 
the blood of the ancient Normans and Saxons in their veins — 
with hearts as large as their bodies can hold, beating n>othing 
but kindness till injustice shows its fangs, and then , lion-like, 
striking for vengeance. This trait of natural character had 
been fostered in Graham by the life he had led. Early trained 
to the use of the rifle, he had learned to regard it as his friend 
and protector ; and when the season of manhood arrived, he 
threw it upon his shoulder and sought the wilderness, where 
he could enjoy its protection and be fed by its faithful aim. 
He became a beaver hunter — a cavalier of the wilderness — 
that noble specimen of brave men w^ho have muscles for rid- 
ing wild horses and warring with wild beasts, a steady brain 
and foot for climbing the icy precipice, a strong breast for 
the mountain torrent, an unrelenting trap for the beaver, a 
keen eye and a deadly shot for a foe. A man was this Gra- 
ham, who stood up boldly before his kind, conscious of pos- 
sessing physical and mental powers adequate to any emer- 
gency. He had a strong aversion to the elegant edifices, the 
furniture, wardrobe, and food of polished life, coupled with 
a vivid love of mountain sublimity, the beautiful herbage on 
uncultivated districts, the wild animals and the streams of 
water roaring down the frozen heights. Even the grey 



62 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC . 

deserts with the hunger and thirst incident to tre; /elling over 
them, had wild and exciting charms for him. On these his 
giant frame had obstacles to contend with worthy of its 
powers ; suffering and even old Death himself to take by 
the throat and vanquish. These and the open air by a pro- 
jecting rock, with the dry sand or the green sward for a 
tiearth and couch, a crackling pine knot fire blazing against 
the cliffs, and roasting a buffalo hump or the sirloin of an 
elk, after the day's hunt had ended, constituted the life he 
was fitted to enjoy. 

He had forced his way over the Rocky Mountains and 
located himself in Upper California. This country was 
suited to his tastes. Its climate allowed him to sleep in the 
open air most of the year ; an abundance of native animals 
covered the hills, and nature was spread out luxuriantly 
everywhere, in wild and untrodden freshness. 

As I have said, this brave man resided near the mission of 
San Juan. He had erected there a rude dwelling, and a dis- 
tillery. On the neighboring plans he herded large bands of 
horses, mules and cattle. To this fine old fellow Alvarado 
made known his peril and designs ; whereupon the foreign- 
ers assembled at Graham's summons, elected him their cap- 
tain, an Englishman by the name of Coppinger, lieutenant, 
and repaired to San Juan. A council was held between the 
clerk and the foreigners. The former promised, that if by 
the aid of the latter he should successfully defend himself 
against the acting governor, and obtain possession of the 
country, it should be declared independent of Mexico ; and 
that the law, which incapacitated foreigners from holding 
real estate, should be abrogated. The foreigners agreed, on 
these conditions, to aid Alvarado to the utmost of their 
power. The next morning the united forces, fifty foreigners 
and twenty-five Californians, marched against Monterey. 

They entered the town in the afternoon of the same day, 
and took up their position in the woods, one hundred rod's in 
the rear of the castello or fort. No event of importance 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIF0RNTA8. 63 

occurred till the night came on, when the awe with which 
darkness sometimes inspires even the bravest minds, fell 
with such overwhelming power on the valorous garrison, 
that notwithstanding they were supported by the open 
mouths of the guns, the barking of their dog, the roar of the 
surf, and the hooting of an owl on a neighboring tree -top, 
they were absolutely compelled to forsake the ramparts, 
for the more certain protection of unmolested flight! 

Graham and his men perceiving the discomforture of their 
enemies, availed themselves of their absence by taking pos- 
session of the evacuated fort. Alvarado, meantime, actuated. 
It is to be presumed, by a desire to save life and a philosophi- 
cal conviction of the dangers incident to bullets rendered 
crazy by burning powder, restrained the fiery ardor of his 
tw^enty-five Californians, and held his own person beyond 
the reach of harm, in case some luckless horse or cow stray- 
ing over hostile ground on that memorable night, should 
scare the fleeing garrison into an act of defence. The next 
morning he and his brave men were found peering from 
their hiding-places in a state of great anxiety and alarm ! 

A battle had almost been begun in Monterey ! The blood 
of their enemies had almost begun to fatten the soil of Cc J- 
fornia ! They themselves had ne^arly stepped in blood knee 
deep, among the carcasses of the hated Mexicans ; the be- 
som of destruction had shaken itself, and had barely missed 
commencing the havoc of bone and flesh, which would have 
crushed every mote of Mexican life within their borders ! 
Thus they gloried among the bushes ! ! 

Old Graham stood at sunrise on the earth embankments 
of the Castello. A hunting shirt of buckskin, and pants of 
the same material, covered his giant frame ; a slouched 
broad-brimmed hat hung aroand his head, and half covered 
his large, quiet, determined face ! In his right hand he 
held his rifle, the tried companion of many fearful strifes 
among the savages ! Four or five of his men sat on a dis- 
mounted thirty-two pounder, querying whether tbey could 



64 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

repair its woodwork so as to bring it to bear on the Presido 
or government house. Others stood by a bucket of water, 
swabbing out their rifle barrels, and cleaning and drying 
the locks. Others of them were cooking beef; others 
whittling, swearing, and chewing tobacco. 

About nine o'clock flags of truce began their onerous 
duties. Alvarado came from the woods and took part in the 
councils. The insurgents demanded the surrender of the Gov- 
ernment ; whereat the cavaliers of the Presido considered 
themselves immeasurably insulted. Two days were passed in 
this parleying without advancing the interests of either party. 
They were days big with the fate of the future ; and who 
could weary under their dreadful burthens 1 Not such men 
as Alvarado. He bore himself like the man he was, through 
all the trying period. He uniformly preferred delay to fight- 
ing ! He was sustained in this preference by his right hand 
villain. Captain Jose Castro. Indeed, it was the unanimous 
choice of the whole Californian division of the insurgent 
forces, to wit, the twenty-five before mentioned, to massacre 
time instead of men. For not a single one of them manifested 
the slightest impatience orinsubordination under the delay— 
a fact which perhaps demonstrates the perfection of military 
discipline in California ! The foreigners diflfered from their 
illustrious allies. Graham thought "two days and two nights 
a waitin' on them baars* was enough." Accordingly, taking 
the responsibility on himself, after the manner of his distin- 
guished fellow-statesman, he sent a flag to the Presido with 
notice that two hours only would be given the Governor 
and his officers to surrender themselves prisoners of war. 
The demand of the old Tennessean, however, was disre- 
garded. The appointed time passed without the surrender. 
Forbearance was at an end. The lieutenant of Graham's 
rifle corps was ordered to level a four pound brass piece at 
the Presido. A ball was sent through its tiled roof, imme- 
diately over the heads of the Mexican magnates ! 

♦ Bears. 



"^^ TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 65 

It is wonderful how small a portion of necessity mingled 
with human affairs will quicken men's perceptions of duty. 

No sooner did the broken tiles rattle around the heads of these 
valiant warriors, than they became suddenly convinced that it 
would be exceedingly hazardous to continue their resistance 
against such an overwhelming force ; and that the central 
government at Mexico would not be so unreasonable as to ex- 
pect four or live hundred troops to hold out against Los Rijie- 
ros Americanos. This view of the case, taken through the 
shattered roof of the Presidio, was conclusive. They sur- 
rendered at discretion ! Alvarado marched into the citadel 
of government ! The Mexican troops laid down their arms ! 
The emblems of office were transferred to the custom-house 
clerk ! When these things had transpired, General Echuan- 
dra was pleased to say to Alvarado with the most exalted 
good sense, " had we known that we were thrice as many as 
you, we should not have surrendered so soon ;" thereby de- 
monstrating to the future historian del Alta California that he 
and his friends would either have fought the seventy-five with 
their five hundred or protracted the siege of bravado much 
longer, had they been able to count the said seventy-five at 
the distance or five hundred yards, during the lapse of two 
days ! Difficulties in the use of optics often occur in Cali- 
fornian warf ire which are not treated of in the books. 

The end of this revolution came ! The schooner Clarion of 
New Bedford was purchased, and the Mexican officers ship- 
ped to San Bias. Juan Baptiste Alvarado customs' clerk 
proclaimed El Alta California an independent republic, and 
himself its govenor. But more of this on a subsequent page. 
It suffices my present purpose to have sliown how far this Al- 
varado was indebted to the foreigners dying in his prisons for 
the station and power which he was using for their desruc- 
tion. He could never have obtained possession of Monte- 
rey without them. And had they not slept on their rifles 
for months after that event^ a party in the south under hia 
uncle Don Carlos Carrillo, or another in the north under his 



(56 SCENESINTHEPACIFIC. 

uncle Guadaloupe Viejo, would have torn him from his ill- 
gotten elevation. 

Thus upper California became an independent state, and 
Alvarado its governor. The central government at Mexico 
was of course much shocked at such unpolished, ungloved 
impudence ; threatened much, and at last in September, 
1837, induced Alvarado to buy a ship, send despatches to 
Mexico, and become El Goubernador Constitutionel del Alta 
California^ associated with his uncle Viejo, as Commandante 
General. After this adhesion to the Mexican Government, 
Alvarado became suspicious of the foreigners who had aided 
him in the " Revolution," and sought every means of an- 
noying them. They might depose him as they had done 
Ecliuandra. And if vengeance were always a certain conse- 
quent of injustice, he reasoned well. The vagabond had 
promised, in the day of his need, to bestow lands on those 
who had saved his neck and raised him to power. This he 
found convenient to forget. Like Spaniards of all ages and 
countries, after having been well served by his friends, he 
rewarded them with the most heartlsss ingratitude. 

Graham in particular was closely watched. A bold open- 
handed man, never concealing for an instant either his love 
or hatred, but with the frankness and generosity of those 
great souls, rough-hewn but majestically honest, who be- 
long to the valley States, he told the Governor his sins from 
time to time, and demanded in the authorative tone of an 
elder and affectionate brother, that he should redeem his 
pledges. The good old man did not remember that a Span- 
iard would have lost his nationality had he done so. A 
Spaniard tell the truth ! A Spaniard ever grateful for ser- 
vices rendered him ! He should have knocked at the tombs 
of Columbus and Cortes, and every other man who ever 
served that contemptible race. He would have learned the 
truth, and gathered wisdom from it. He asked for justice 
and received what we shall presently see. 

Graham loved a horse. He had taken a fine gelding with 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIA S. 67 

him when he emigrated to the country, and trained him for 
the turf. Every year he had challenged the whole country 
to the course, and as often won everything wagered against 
bis noble steed. Jose Castro, a villain with a lean body, 
dark face, black mustachios, pointed nose, flabby cheeks, 
uneasy eyes, and hands and heart so foul as instinctively 
to require a Spanish cloak, in all sorts of weather, to cover 
them, and his Excellentissimo w^ere among Graham's heavi- 
est debtors. Behold the reasons of their enmity. 

Another cause of the general feelings against the Ameri- 
cans and Britons in California was the fact that the Senoritasy 
the dear ladies, in the plenitude of their taste and sympathy 
for foreigners, preferred them as husbands. Hence Jose 
Castro was heard to declare a little before the arrest of the 
Americans and Britons, that such indignities could not be 
borne by Castilian blood ; " for a Californian Cavaliero can- 
not woo a Senorita if opposed in his suit by an American 
sailor, and these heretics must be cleared from the land." 

Such were the causes operating to arouse the wrath and 
ripen the patriotism of the Californians. The vengeance 
of baffled gallantry bit at the ear of Captain Jose Castro ; 
the fear of being brought to justice by Graham, tugged at 
the liver of Alvarado ; and love the keenest, and hate the 
bitterest, in a soul the smallest that was ever entitled to the 
breath of life, burnished the little black eyes and inflamed 
the little thin nose of one Corporal Pinto. These were the 
worthies who projected the onslaught on the foreigners. 
Their plan of operation was the shrewdest one ever con- 
cocted in California. 

Since the " Revolution" of '36 the Californian Spaniards 
had been convinced that the Americans and Britons were 
vastly their superiors in courage and skill in war. From 
the beginning, therefore, it was apparent that if they were 
to get one or two hundred of these men into their power, it 
must be done by stratagem. Accordingly, Graham's annual 
challenge for the spring races in 18^0, was conveniently con- 



tS SCENESIN rHEPAlJlFir 

stmed into a disguised attempt to gather his friends for the 
purpose of overthrowing Alvarado's Government. This sug 
gestion was made to the minor leading interests, civil and 
military, and a Junto was formed for the safety of the State ; 
i)r in plain truth, for the gratification of the several personal 
enmities and jealousies of half a dozen scoundrels, w^ho, 
disregarding the most sacred pledges to their friends, would 
rob them of their property and sacrifice their lives. 

This Junto marshalled their forces at Monterey, and 
adopted the following plan for accomplishing their fiendish 
designs : — The soldiers were detailed into corps of two, 
three and four in number, to which were attached several 
civilized Indians. These bands were secretly sent to the 
abodes of the foreigners, with instructions to convey them 
with dispatch before the Alcaldes of the neighboring mis- 
sions. This they accomplished. The victims, on receiving 
information that the Alcaldes desired to see them, repaired 
to their presence, willingly, and without suspicion of evil 
intentions against them. As soon, however, as they arrived, 
they were loaded with irons, and cast into the loathsome 
cells of these establishments in which the Padres formerly 
confined their disobedient converts ! 

Thus, one by one, they succeeded in arresting one hundred 
and sixty odd Americans and Britons — brave old trappers, 
mechanics, merchants, whalemen and tars — men who, if em- 
bodied under Graham, with their rifles in their hands, coUiJ 
have marched from San Francisco to San Lucas ; conquered 
nme hundred miles of coast, and held the Government of the 
country in spite of the dastards who were oppressing them. 
But they were caught in a net skilfully thrown over them, 
and were helpless. After each man w^as bolted safely in 
his dungeon, the harpies proceeded to his house, violated 
his family, plundered his premises, and drove aw^ay his Ii7'« 
stock as private booty — the reward of the brave ! 

Having in this manner collected these unhappy men in 
jxe prisons of the several missions, Alvarado and Castro 




Monterey, California. — P. 69. 




San Francisco, California. — P. 69. 



TRAVELS [ N THE C A T. I F R N I A 8, 69 

irarched their whole disposable force to one mission alter 
^nuiher and brought them in heavy irons, a few at a time, 
..o the Government dungeons at Monterey ! 

The names of some of these men, together with their 
places of residence in Cahfornia, which I happened to pre- 
serve, are given below. 

Those who lived near the mission of San Francisco Bay, 
were, Lewis Pollock, John Vermillion, William McGlone, 
Daniel Sill, George Frazer, Nathaniel Spear, Captain Mc- 
Kenley, Jonathan Fuller, Captain Beechay. 

Those who resided at El Pueblo San Jose, were William 
Blirkin, George Fergusson, Thomas Thomas, William Lang- 
it} s, Jonathan Mirayno, William Weeks, Jonathan Coppm- 
ger, William Hauts, Charles Brown, Thomas Toiplison, 
Richard Westlake, James Peace, Robert McCallister, Tho- 
mas Bowen, Elisha Perry, Nathan Daily, Robert Livermore, 
William Gulenack, Jonathan Marsh, Peter Storm, Job Dye, 
William Smith, Jonathan Warner, and tw^o Frenchmen. 

Those from Santa Cruz, were, William Thompson, James 
Burnes, F. Eagle, Henry Knight, Jonathan Lucas, George 
Chapel, Henry Cooper, Jonathan Herven, James Lowyado, 
Francisco, LaGrace, Michael Lodge, Josiah Whitehouse, 
Robert King. 

From Nativada, Graham's neighborhood, w^ere, Isaac 
Graham, Daniel Goff, William Burton, Jonathan Smith, 
and Henry Niel. 

Those residents at Selenias, were, William Chard, James 
O'Brien, William Brondn, William Malthas, Thomas Cole, 
Thomas Lewis, William Ware, anJ James Majoiis. 

In Monterey, were, Leonard Carmichael, Edward Wat- 
son, Andrew Watson, Henry McVicker, H. Hathaway, 
Henry Bee, William Trevavan, Jonathan Maynard, William 
Henderson, James Meadows, Jonathan Higgins, Mark West, 
George Kenlock, Jeremiah Jones, Jonathan Chamberlainj 
Daniel , Joseph Bowles, James Kelley, James Fair- 
well, Walter Adams, Mr. Horton, Jnmes Atterville, Mr. 



70 SCENESIN THE PACIFIC 

Jones, Jonathan Christian, William Chay, William Dick«y, 
Charles Williams, Alvan Willson. 



CHAPTER V 



THE PRISONRES. 



Forty-one of the prisoners whose names appear on the 
concluding pages of the last Chapter, furnished me with 
written accounts of their arrest, and subsequent treatment. 
Believing that the reader will be more interested in these, 
than in any abstract that could be made of them, I will trans- 
cribe a few which best illustrate this barbarous persecution. 

^* I, Isaac Graham, a citizen of the United States of Ame- 
rica, came across the continent to California, with a pass- 
port from the Mexican authorities of Chihuahua, and ob- 
tained from the General commanding in Upper California, 
a license to run a distillery in that country, for the term of 
eight years ; this business I have followed since that time. 

" On the sixth of April last (1840) there appeared to be 
mischief brewing. But what it would prove to be, none of 
us could tell. The Californian Spaniards travelled usually 
much about the country ; and conversed with the foreigners 
rather shyly. They had threatened to drive us out of Califor- 
nia several times ; and we tried to guess whether they were 
at last preparing to accomplish it. But from what we saw 
it was impossible to form a satisfactory conclusion. 

" On the same day, however, Jose Castro, Bicenta Con- 
trine, Ankel Castro, and a runaway Botany Bay English con- 
vict, by the name of Garner, a vile fellow, and an enemy o! 
mine, because the foreigners would not elect him their cap- 
tain, passed and repassed my house several times, and con- 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 71 

versed together in low tones of voice. I stopped Jose Cas- 
tro, and asked him what was the matter. He replied that he 
was going to march against the Commandante General 
Viego, at San Francisco, to depose him from the command 
of the forces. His two companions made the same assertion. 
1 knew that Alvarado was afraid of Viego, and that Jose 
Castro was ambitious for his place ; and for these reasons, I 
partly concluded that they spoke the truth. 

" A little later in the day, however, the vagabond Garner 
called at my house, and having drunk freely of whisky be- 
came rather boisterous, and said significantly, that the time 
of some people would be short ; that Jose Castro had re- 
ceived orders from the governor to drive the foreigners out of 
California, ortodispose of them in some other way. He boast- 
ed that he himself should have a pleasant participation in 
the business. I could not persuade him to inform me when 
or in what manner this was to take place. I had heard the 
same threat made a number of times within the past year, but 
it resulted in nothing. Believing, therefore, that Garner's 
words proceeded from the whisky he had drunk, rather than 
the truth, I left him in the yard, and in company with my 
partner, Mr, Niel, went to bed. Messrs. Morris and Bar- 
ton, as usual, took to their couches in the still -house. 

" We slept quietly, until about three o'clock in the morn- 
ing, when I was awakened by the discharge of a pistol near 
my head, the ball of which passed through the handkerchief 
about my neck. I sprang to my feet, and jumped in the 
direction of the villains, when they discharged six other 
pistols, so near me that my shirt took fire in several places. 
Fortunately, the darkness and the trepidation of the cow- 
ards prevented their taking good aim ; for only one of their 
shots took effect, and that in my left arm. 

" After firing they fell back a few paces and commiinced 
reloading their pieces. I perceive by the light of their pis- 
tols that they were too numerous for a single man to contend 
with, and determined to escape. But I had scarcely got six 



72 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

paces from Ihe door when I was overtaken and assailed with 
heavy blows from their swords. These I succeeded in parry- 
ing off to such an extent that I was not much injured by 
them. Being- incensed at last by my successfvd resistance, 
they grappled with me, and threw me down, when an ensign 
by the name of Joaquin Terres drew his dirk, and saying 
w^ith an oath that he would let out my life, made a thrust at 
my heart. God saved me again. The weapon passing be- 
tween my body and left arm, sunk deep in the ground ! and 
before he had an opportunity of repeating his blow they 
dragged me up the hill in the rear of my house, where Jose 
Castro was standing. They called to him, ' Here he is ! 
here he is !' whereupon Castro rode up and struck me with 
the back of his sword over the head so severely as to bring 
me to the ground ; and then ordered four balls to be put 
through me. But this was prevented by a faithful Indian 
in my service, who threw himself on me, declaring that he 
would receive the balls in his own heart ! 

"Unwilling to be thwarted, however, in their design to de- 
stroy me, they next fastened a rope to one of my arms, and 
passed it to a man on horseback, who wound it firmly around 
the horn of his saddle. Then the rest of them, taking hold of 
the other arm, endeavored to haul my shoulders out of joint ! 
But the rope broke. Thinking the scoundrels bent on killing 
me in some way, I begged for liberty to commend my soul to 
God. To this they replied, ' You shall never pray till you 
kneel over your grave.' They then conducted me to my 
house and permitted me to put on my pantaloons. While 
there they asked where Mr. Morris was. I told them I did 
not know. They then put their lances to my breast and told 
me to call him or die. I answered that he had made his es- 
cape. While I was saying this, Mr. Niel came to the house, 
pale from loss of blood and vomiting terribly. He had had a 
lance thrust through his thigh, and a deep wound in his 
leg, which nearly separated the cord of the heel. 

''They next put Mr. Niel and myself in double irons, car- 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORN AS. 73 

ried us half a mile into the plain, left us under guard, and 
returned to plunder the house. After having been absent 
a short time, they came and conducted us back to our 
rifled home. As soon as we arrived there, a man by the 
name of Manuel Larias approached me with a drawn sword, 
ind commanded me to inform him where my money was 
buried. I told him I had none. He cursed me and turn- 
ed away. I had some deposited m the ground, but I de- 
termined they should never enjoy it. After having robbed 
me of my books and papers, which were all the evidence I 
had that these very scoundrels and others were largely in- 
debted to me, and having taken whatever was valuable on 
my premises, and distributed it among themselves, they 
proceeded to take an inventory of what was left, as if it 
were the whole of my property ; and then put me on 
horseback and sent me to this prison. You know the rest. 
I am chained like a dog, and suffer like one." 

Mr. Albert F. Morris, whose name appears in Graham's 
account of his arrest, gives me some farther particulars. It 
may be well here to say, that this Morris was a British subject, 
a descendant of the former Surveyor-General of Nova Scotia 
or New Brunswick. Having strayed from friends and home, 
he found himself in California destitute of the means of liveli- 
hood. In this state of want he hired himself to Graham as 
a laborer in his distillery ; and was living on his pre^mises 
in that capacity at the time of the events just related. 

'^ On the night of the sixth of April, 1840, when we were 
about going to bed, two persons arrived who asked for 
lodgings. Mr. Graham told them they might find quarters 
with us in the distillery. They dismounted and took bed 
with me and Mr. Barton; and Messrs. Graham and his 
partner Neil took their bed in the house, about thirty 
yards distant from us. 

'' Nothing occurred to disturb us until about three o'clock 
in the morning, when, being awakened by aloud knocking at 
the distillery door, I sprang out of my bed, and asked who 



74 SCENESIN 'THE PACIFIC. 

was there ? No answer bein^^ returned, I repeated the ques- 
tion in a stern voice, when a man outside replied, ' Nicholas 
Alviso.' He being a near neighbor I answered, ' very well,' 
and told one of those present to light a candle. But while 
this was being done, a number of people outside called out, 
' Where is Graham 1 Tear the devil in pieces !' and imme- 
diately afterward rushed with great violence against the door. 
I told them to wait a moment, but they cried out with still 
greater clamor for Graham, and seemed to rush toward the 
house where he slept. Quite a number, however, remained 
at the distillery, beating at the door in a savage manner and 
threatening death to the inmates. I drew my pistols, and at 
that instant Nicholas Alviso called aloud for all hands to beat 
down the door. On they came against it; I fired ; and they 
returned the fire and wounded me in the left side. I then 
seized my rifle and snapped if, at them ; they retreated, and 
I escaped into the swamp in the rear of Graham's house. 
After concealing myself among the bushes, I saw fifteen 
or twenty men with drawn swords making most deadly blows 
at Messrs. Graham and Neil. I heard Ankel Castro give 
orders to hew them down ; Garner urged them to do the same, 

" I remained in the swamp till late the next night, when 
I walked eight miles to the farm of Mr. Littlejohn, where 
I remained two days. Then, with an Indian to guide me, 
I rode to the mission of Santa Cruz on the north side of 
Monterey Bay. Here I called at the houses of Messrs. Dye 
and Young ; told them what had happened, and went up 
among the hills for safety. 

'' On the sixteenth, Francisco Young came to me and said, 
that Captain Burlinen had come after me with a company of 
riflemen. He assured me that I should not be put to death or 
manacled if I surrendered myself without resistance. I con- 
cluded after some hesitation to do so, and followed him down 
to Mr. Dye's distillery. There I found Captain Burlinen, with 
eleven Californians, armed with the rifles which they had 
taken from the Britons and Americans. After obtaining a 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 75 

promise from the captain that my life should not be taken 
and that I should not be pat in irons or otherwise bound, I 
delivered my rifle to him and became his prisoner. I wem 
then marched down to the Mission of Santa Cruz between 
the soldiers, and put under guard until the next morning. 

" Soon after sunrise on the seventeenth they began pre- 
parations for taking me to Monterey. I had, when escap- 
ing from Graham's premises, left most of my clothing, and 
not knowing in what this affair might end, I desired the 
captain to take me by that route. To this he consented. 
But it was of no service to me ; for I found both my port- 
manteaus broken open and all my clothing stolen. Mr. Niel 
was in the house. He had been badly wounded in the af- 
fray of the sixth. A lance h; d been thrust through his 
thigh, and a deep sabre cut inflicted upon the leg. He told 
me that the Botany Bay Garner did it. I saw several 
balls sticking in the w^alls of the bedroom in which Mr. Niel 
lay. The floor was much stained with blood. The pre- 
mises had been plundered. We stayed at Graham's house 
an hour, and proceeded towards Monterey. 

*'I arrived in town the next day. It was occupied by sol- 
diers, and the prisons filled with foreigners. They immedi- 
ately put me in double-irons, and carried me before a body of 
men w^ho pretended to act as a court of justice. I desired 
that Mr. Spence, the alcalde, might be sent for as an inter- 
preter. But they w^ould not allow it. They said I must be 
content with the one they had provided. His name was 
Nariago. He was by no means capable of the task. But I 
was compelled to take him or none, and go into the exami- 
nation. I was sworn ; and then the interpreter said it was 
well known that I had been writing letters against the gov- 
ernment. I asked him to produce the letters, that I might 
see them. He replied, * that it is not necessary.' He then 
said that Mr. Graham was at the head of an attempted revo- 
lutionary movement against the government, and that I 
knew something about it. I replied that I had never heard 



76 SCENESINTHEPACIFIC. 

Mr. Graham suggest anything of the kind. I said that he 
had expressed a determination to represent to the governor 
the shameful treatment of Mr. Higgins ; and the outrage 
upon the foreigners while they were burying their country- 
men at Santa Barbara ; and particularly the monstrous deed 
of digging him up after burial, and leaving his corpse naked 
above ground. I confessed I had offered to go with him to 
the governor for that purpose. 

*'The interpreter then asked w^hy I fired on the people at 
Graham's distillery. I answered that I did it in self defence. 
He inquired how that could be. I told him, as it was impos- 
sible for me in the night time to see those who made the as- 
sault on the distillery, I could not know whether they were 
the authorized agents of the government, or robbers whom it 
was my duty to resist. My life was at stake, and I fought 
for it, as they w^ould have done under like circumstances. It 
was next asked why I did not seek redress from the govern- 
ment, if I supposed them robbers. I said that I had no time 
to do so between their attempts to kill me and my own neces- 
sary acts to prevent them ; and that if I had had opportunity 
I had no assurance, under the circumstances, that govern- 
ment would protect me. This last answer Avas translated with 
some embellishments; and the interpreter informed me it was 
considered highly insulting to the governor. I answered that 
no insult was intended, but that I was under oath, and could 
not vary from the truth. I w^as then asked why I fled to 
Santa Cruz. My reply was that I had lost all confidence in 
the justice of the government, and flew to the wilderness 
for protection. At this the alcalde was greatly incensed, or- 
dered my answ^ers to be reduced to writing, and commanded 
me to affix my name to them, together with the additions 
which their desire for an excuse to destroy me induced them 
to append. I stated that I did not suppose myself obliged 
to place my signature to an instrument written in a lan- 
guage which I could not read. I signed it with swords 
over my head. What the paper contained I never knew. 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIF0RNIA8 77 

They would not allow me to attempt to read it. The ex- 
amination being ended, they took me to the fort and placed 
me under a strong guard for the night. The next day, the 
nineteenth of April, they manhed me under escort of a 
company of infantry into the public green, before the gov- 
ernment house, to hear prayers. After which, I have no 
doubt, they intended to shoot me, but were prevented from 

doing it through the fear of Mr. ." 

I have other interesting narratives showing the most in- 
human conduct in the Governor of Upper California, while 
Lirresting these Americans and Britons, which I must pass for 
want of space. There is one, however, that refers more 
especially to the causes which brought many of them into a 
country where they were subject to such merciless usage, 
that I cannot prevail on myself to omit. It is a saying among 
seamen that when a ship doubles Cape Horn *' the rope's end 
and shackles are the Old Man's argument." Sailors in 
those seas are often glad even to escape from a bloody deck 
to the chances of dungeons and rapiers in the Californias. 

*' I left the American ship Hope, of Philadelphia, in Ma- 
nilla, and there being no chance of getting a passage to the 
United States from that place, I went passenger to Macao, in 
the ship Rasselas, of Boston, commanded by Captain ****•*. 
On my arrival there, all his crew having left him, Captain 
****** asked me to ship on board his vessel for a voyage. I 
and some others agreed to do so on these conditions : that if 
after serving^ one month, while the ship lay in that port, we 
did not like it, we were to be at liberty to leave her. When 
the month was up we all requested to go on shore. But he 
said all might go except William Warren, Robert McAlister, 
and myself. We were accordingly detained on board. No 
boat from the shore was allowed to come alongsrde for fear we 
should escape. After a short time the ship proceeded on her 
voyage to Kamschatka. And in this way were we forced to 
go without sigiing articles, and contrary to our agreement. 



78 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

One day when ray watch was at work on deck the captain 
came along and said I was not sewin-g the sail right ; and 1 
said I thought I was; when he kicked me over the eye with a 
large heavy shoe he had on at the time. And when the pain 
made me start to my feet, with the blood running dow^n my 
face, he said that I \vanted to kill him with a knife, and im- 
mediately had me put (hands and feet) in irons. I remained 
so for half an hour; when the captain, ordering me to be tied 
up to the main-rigging, and taking his knife from his pocket, 
cut the shirt off my back, and gave me two dozen lashes with 
his own hand. After this 1 vvas taken down and thrown in 
the longboat among the hogs, and fed on bread and water for 
a fortnight. In this situation I suffered very much. For I 
was ironed hand and foot, the weather was extremely cold, 
and I was without shirt, shoes and stockings. At the end of 
the two weeks the ship arrived in port, and I was taken out 
of the longboat. My feet, too, were stripped of their fetters ; 
they were swelled so much that it was with difficulty I could 
walk. I was kept manacled at the wrists till the ship had 
got underway out of the harbor. After she had passed the 
fort the captain ordered a boat lowered and sent me ashore on 
a barren place, where it was impossible for me to go to the 
settlement without a boat, and left me with the irons on my 
hnnds. In this situation I spent two days and nights on the 
beach without food or water, when I was picked up by a man 
who gave me a passage in a canoe to the settlement. Here 1 
had to work hard for my victuals. After nine months the 
schooner Clementine, of New York, arrived, and I asked 

Captain to take me out of ttie country, but he refused. 

I then w^ent to Oliotsk, thinking to go overland to St. Peters- 
burg ; finding a vessel there from the States, however, I 
wanted to ship in her, but was detained by the Russian 
government, and forced to work for the Russian American 
Fur Company the two following years. After having been 
forced to bear the rigors ot two Siberian winters, without 
much clothing, and to serve as a slave for tw^o and a half years, 



TRAVELS IN THE CAI. IFORNIAS 

I got a passage to Sitka, Nortliwest America, where, affcii? 
five months' working for the Russians, I was permitted to go 
away in the brig Baicaland was discharged in San Francisco, 
'' John Warner, of Scotland." 

The next event in this poor fellow's life was his impri- 
sonment in California. His sufferings there were scarcely 
less than those he had endured elsewhere. The names of 
his companions at Macao appear in the list of prisoners 
which was given in the previous chapter. 

The 19th was an exciting day. More of my countrymen 
and others, allied by the blood of a common ancestry, were 
arriving from the interior in irons. As soon as they came in 
town they were taken in front of the prisons, pulled vio- 
Imtly from their horses by Indians, and frequently much 
bruised by the fall. Their tormentors then searched them, 
took forcible possession of their money, knives, flints, steels, 
and every other little valuable about their persons, and 
thrust them into prison. About eleven o'clock, A. M., the 
American called on the governor to learn the cause of this 
treatment, and was informed that there had been considera- 
ble conversation among the prisoners for months past, about 
'' being abused by the government," and that threats had 
been made about " going to the governor for justice," and 
other things of that kind, which rendered ti necessary for the 
peace of the country to get them out of it, or into their graves. 
The American replied, that the treaty stipulations between 
the governments of the United States and Mexico required 
the authorities of each country to treat the citizens of the 
other with kindness and justice. 

His Excellentissimo replied, that the government of the 
Californias would not be restrained in its action by treaties 
which the central government might make ; and that if the 
department of the Californias should violate such compact 
with the United States, that government would seek redress 
from Mexico ; that the Californian government was the iiure 



80 eCENESINTHEPAClFIC. 

agent of the Ceptral government, and therefore not respio 
sible to other nations for its administration. The Mexican 
e;Dvernment alone had a right to complain of its acts. 

The American replied, that the department of the Califor- 
nias being an integral part of the Mexican nation, any inju- 
ry which its authorities should inflict on the persons and rights 
of other nations might well be redressed on the persons and 
property of the Californias. The Governor answered, that 
he thought not. He was then asked, what he supposed an 
American or British fleet would do, if one should at that 
time anchor at Monterey? 

This question startled the miserable tyrant. That spectral 
fleet outside, its reputed commander in his very presence, and 
the constant plying of the Don Quixote between him and his 
armament, seemed for a moment to come before him, like a 
fearful reality. Perceiving the impression made upon him, 
the American took advantage of the occasion to remark, that 
it would be necessary for the Californian guvernment to 
bring the persons then in confinement to a speedy tria* for 
any alleged misdemeanor, or set them at liberty without trial, 
at a very early dav , for the American government and its 
citizens required him, and would, if necessary, compel him, 
in this instance at least, to do an act of strict justice. 

The quiet and firm tone of this address threw his Excel- 
lentissimo into a most sublime rage. He ordered the guards 
to fire on the American, and strode through his apartment, 
bellowing fearfully, and raising a very dense cloud of dust ! 
The American, meanwhile, knowing that Californian noise 
boded little danger, stood quietly awaiting the termination 
of the tumult. It ceased after a while, and mildly saying 
to the governor, that he had only to repeat, that the pris- 
oners must be tried and lawfully condemned or set at liberty, 
and that soon, he walked through the guards and returned 
to his lodgings. He had not been at home more than an 
hour when a message arrived from Don Jose Castro, Alva- 
vado's captain advising him not to appear in the stre^'t* 



TRAVELS III THE CALIFORNIA S. 81 

\ 

aeain, for he feared that his life would be taken by the sub 
afterns of the insulted government ! ! 

rhis message was intended to prevent him from appear- 
ing before the grates, and encouraging the prisoners to bear 
their sufferings like men worthy their high extraction ; and 
also to deter him from interfering with the unholy purposes 
of the Government against their lives. It failed of its object. 
His reply was, that he did not at that time comprehend the 
necessity ot Captain Castro's anxieties in regard to him, and 
that as he should have business in the streets about sunset, 
those who felt disposed would have an opportunity at that 
time to make any demonstrations congenial with their feel- 
ings. At sunset he walked down to the prisons, heard 
again through the grates the cries of their tenants for air and 
water, and returned to Mr. Larkin's, to pass a miserable 
night— a night of unavailing compassion. 

The next day he went into two of the cells, took the 
names and residence of a portion of the prisoners, and learn- 
ed their general condition. They had nothing on which to 
sleep or sit except the wet ground ; w'ere emaciated, pale 
and sickly ; some of them could scarcely walk to the grate 
to get fresh air ; one could not stand, and his fellows from 
time to time held him up to breathe ! They said in their 
despair, that they could keep hope alive as long as he 
dared to walk frequently before the prison, for his presence 
obtained them better treatment from their enemies, and 
encouraged the more desponding to expect through him 
deliverance from their sufferings ! 

Graham's cell was under a double guard. It could not be 
approached. People were even forbidden to pass it. I oc- 
casionally approached near enough to hear the lion-hearted 
old man roar out his indignation. A great and brave soul 
had that man. Its best energies had been bestowed on the 
mgrate Alvarado. He had made the rascal into a gover- 
nor ; and this was the beginning of his reward. 

The afternoor was spent in much perplexity by the officers 



82 SCENESINTHEPAC FIC. 

of the government. They believed the American to h e some- 
thing more than a Commodore. His precise rank they could 

not determine. It was evident to them that he had a fleet 
outside under his command ! But he spoke and acted as if he 
not only had authority on the seas, but the land also, even in 
Los Californias ! He was everywhere present, forbidding 
one thing and ordering another ; rushing into the gover- 
nor's apartments, upbraiding him for his acts, and threaten- 
ing to bring destruction upon the town, unless all his capri- 
cious wishes in regard to the rebels were gratified. His cha- 
racter was an enigma. If he assumed it, death was too light 
a punishment. If he were really a high agent of the Repub- 
lic of North America, his bearing and acts comported with 
his character, and indicated that great circumspection would 
be necessary in the course adopted toward the prisoners. 

Mr. Larkin was called upon to express his opinion in this 
vexed matter ; but he very properly said that he knew noth- 
ing about it, except that this man appeared to be one who 
understood his duties, whatever they were ; and suggested 
that it might not be well to disregard his opinions, or other- 
wise treat him with disrespect. The subaltern dignitaries 
thereupon made their complimentary acknowledgments to 
the American, and passed a part of the day with him and 
Mr. Larkin. It pleased them to say many handsome things 
of the bravery and intelligence of the citizens of the States. 
They were told in reply that the United States expected the 
prisoners to be released from unjust and tyrannical impri- 
sonment. The Senors bowed assent ; but mentioned as a 
difficulty in the way of this proceeding, that to release them 
would be an act of great disrespect to the governor, Juan Bap- 
tiste Alvarado. To this it was replied that such disrespect 
would not be very alarming — not quite so serious as the 
Paixhan guns of an American or British man-of-war. 

Another night of suffering in the prisons. '' Heat, heat ! 
Air ! for God's sake £»-ive us air ! nir ! You brown devils, 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIA 8. 83 

give US air !" were heard at intervals, till the noise Di open- 
ing day drowned these agonizing entreaties. 

On the morning of the twenty-first, the American was 
retusod any intercourse with the prisoners. During the fore- 
noon, therefore, he walked many times past the grates of ihe 
several buildings ; stopped often and encouraged the in- 
mates by his mien to hope on still. Mr. Larkin had fed 
them liberally in the morning, and furnished every cell with 
an abundant supply of water. Yet they suffered greatly ! 
They looked on damp prison walls, and dragged chains at 
their wrists and ancles ! They stood or sat or lay on 
poached mud! They saw in the future every image of coming 
evil ! Suffocation, the pangs of death one at a time, com- 
ing slowly by day and among the sleepless moments of the 
long and hot night — life pendent on the mercy of a Califor- 
nian Spaniard. These constituted heir condition. 

About noon of the 21st, a half-breed Spaniard rode into town 
at fall speed and held a hurried conversation with the guard 
around the prison, and then entered the house of the Governor. 
A few moments having elapsed he reappeared and went to the 
quarters of Jose Castro. A moment more Castro came upon 
the green, issued a hasty order to Corporal Pinto, and re- 
paired to the Governor. The horseman, meantime, galloped 
rapidly to the Castello. Immediately his Excellentissimo ap- 
peared on the balcony, and ordered the drums to beat to arms ! 
Soon there was hot haste in every dwelling. Women ran 
to the windows and doors ; children pulled at their mothers' 
skirts, and asked what had happened. The men ran to the 
public green, took their stations in the ranks, and looked al- 
ternately towards the hills and the prisons. The dogs bark- 
ed and trotted about in apparent wonder; the goats bleated 
and stamped their feet ; and the horses neighed and ran to 
the sea-side, and the cattle raised head and tail and lan to- 
gether ! In fact, such a time of locomotion had not for many 
a day been seen in Monterey. In order to explain tliis phe- 
nomenon, it will be necessary for me to show its cause. 



84 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

A law of the Republic of Mexico requires the citizens of 
other nations, who would hunt, trap, or trade for furs on any 
portion of her dominions, to obtain from the proper authori- 
ties written licenses to that effect. Three, four, and six 
months, are the usual terms of time specified in them, and the 
rights conveyed by them vary, from the mere privilege of 
trapping, to all the several franchises of a general trader. 
With these stowed away in deer-skin pouches, enveloped in 
the bladders of the buffalo so saturated with grease that nei- 
ther the storms nor streams can penetrate them, they load their 
mules with traps and goods and go forth into the wilderness. 
The territories over which they more commonly travel are 
those which lie on the rivers Jila, the Colorado of the West, 
the San Joaquin, and Sacramento, countries inhabited by In- 
dians only, among which thecitizen^J of the Indio-Spanio-Bra' 
vo-Furioso-Militario-Despotico-Republica- Americana^ dare 
not enter. Into these wastes the daring Americans fight their 
way through the savage tribes ; trap the beaver among flying 
poisoned arrows ; guard each other while they take in turn 
their hurried sleep ; eat the flesh of wild animals and beaten 
grass seed; or, as is often the case, loose themselves and die of 
hunger, thirst, or the prostrating effects of the poisonous wa- 
ters in the sandy solitudes over which they attempt to travel. 

If, however, they survive the hardships of these journeyings, 
collect large quantities of furs, and return to the borders of civ- 
ilization, satisfied that their toil, however hazardous it may 
have been, has resulted in an adequate reward, it is still un- 
certain whether they have labored for their own or another's 
benefit. The authorities who have sold them their licenses em- 
ploy various means to rob them of what they have so dearly 
acquired. The more common of these is to raise questions in 
regard to the validity of the licenses. To this end the hunter 
and his furs .re seized and carried before the Alcalde, on the 
assumption that they have been obtained without lawful per- 
mission . The court is opened, and the possession and seizure 
is proven — the hunter offers in evidence of his right of pro 




American Fur Traders, — P. 84. 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 85 

perty, his carefully preserved license. It is examined by the 
court and if found to have been granted by the political par- 
ly then in power, it is declared sufficient, and the hunter and 
his furs are leleased. But if it unfortunately proceeded from 
the antagonist political sect, the court, with a wisdom by no 
means peculiar to themselves, pronounce that act of their 
predecessors of no effect, and declare the furs forfeited to 
the government. Nor is the hunter rendered secure from de- 
predation by the adjudged legality of his acquisition. Nu- 
merous instances have occurred in which the officials of New 
Mexico, after they have rendered judgment in his favor, 
have hired the partially civilized Indians to follow the poor 
hunter, on his way over the plains towards his home, and 
rob him of every skin he has taken, even his wardrobe, food, 
animals, rifle, and left him to perish or return to the cold hos- 
pitality of those whose creatures have ruined him. 

Instances of another manner of committing these robberies 
have occurred. An American hunter obtained his license in 
Chihuahua, went to Upper California, and after a very suc- 
cessful hunt among the Tulares' lakes in the valley of the San 
Joaquin, went down to Monterey for rest and supplies. On 
his arrival he was summoned before the Alcalde to show by 
what right he had entered the country and trapped the beaver 
He had lost some of his animals while fording- a mountain 
torrent, and with them his passport and license. He there- 
fore, could show no authority for his presence, nor cause w^hy 
the furs in his possession should not be declared contraband. 
He was not permitted to send to Chihuahua for evidence. 
The loss of some three thousand dollars' worth of furs, and 
seven years imprisonment, at Monterey, was the result. 

Another American by the name of Young, who appears m 
in the narrative of my travels across the continent, was, by 
means like these robbed of some thousands of beaver-skins, 
the avails of many years' toil. But this iniquitous plundering 
has not been confined to the w^hites. The civilized Indians 
on our western frontier, who make frequent excursions over 



M SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

the Rocky Mountains in search of furs, have from time h> 
time been subjected to losses and the moist degrading personal 
treatment from theCalifornian and New Mexican authontie:?. 
Whites and Indians having been injured in this manner, with- 
out personal resistance, until all hope of retribution from the 
federal government, and every prospect ol better morals on 
the part of the robbers, had forsaken them, have taken the 
club into their own hands : and the ruined Indian and 
white man put on the red paint of battle, band together, 
make incursions among the covyards of Santa Fe, and 
even cross the mountains, and lay tribute upon the mules 
and horses of the Californians. Such were the Indians 
whose presence created the alarm at Monterey. They number- 
ed about fifty. And the vagabond government well knew that 
those fifty rifles if brought upon the town at that time would 
send every poltroon of them to their last rest. No wonder, 
then, that there was quaking at Monterey. Old scores and la« 
ter ones w^ould have been balanced, if those men had dream- 
ed that Americans and Britons were in the prisons of Monterey. 

It was suggested by several persons that the prisoners 
would be shot during the week without trial. Acting upon 
this hint the American intimated to some of the more pru- 
dent and intelligent among them, his willingness to aid them 
in breaking prison, taking the town, and disposing of the 
authorities at rope's end, if they did not give them a fair 
trial within three days thereafter. These propositions in- 
spired them with such new life, or rather so kindled into 
action the little that was left in them, that those who had 
strength enough to make themselves heard, struck up '' Hail 
Columbia," and " Rule Britannia," with a fervor that at 
intervals choked their utterance ! 

I never before felt the force of these national songs. The 
night was still! Scarcely a sound was heard save the heavy 
surf beating on the rocks of Puentos Pinos. I walked 
around the prisons till eleven o'clock, to the peril of life, in- 
deed, but in the enjoyment of feelings dearer than life itself. 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 87 

" Hail Columbia !" I wish my readers could conceive 
soineihing of the stirring might of those words sung by 
parched lips within the prisons of California ! Dying Amer- 
icans sang them ! The unconquerable sons of the Repub- 
lic sang them, though strength was sinking and the blood 
flowed feebly through her children's veins ! 

'* Rule Britannia!" The battle anthem of the fatherland ! 
Sturdy Britons were there to sing. Their voices seemed weak 
when they began it ; but as their feelings seized more per- 
fectly the inspiration of poetry and music, the floating walls 
of the Island Empire seemed to heave in view. " Rule Bri- 
tannia !" It came ringing through the grates during the lat- 
ter part of the evening with a broken, wild shout, as if the 
breath of those who uttered it came fresh from Trafalgar ! 

Pinto, the captain of the guard, inquired the purjwrt of 
their songs, and was told by a Scotchman at the grates that 
they were " the war-cries of Britain and America, and that 
the Californians, Mexicans, and the rest of the Spanish 
creation, had better vote themselves asses and devils before 
those nations forced the idea into them from the muzzles of 
their rifles !" 

This Pinto was a small pattern even of a coward, but what 
there was of him one could not doubt was the genuine article. 
He had a small narrow head, very black stiff* hair, a long thin 
nose with a sharp pendant point ; small snakish eyes, very 
near neighbors, and always peering out at the corners of the 
sockets; a very slender sharp chin, with a villanous tuft of 
bristles on the under lip ; a dark swarthy complexion burnish- 
ed with the grin of an idiotic hyena. Who would not expect 
such an animal to be frightened at the carnage songs of the 
parent of nations and her firstborn child ! He did fear, the 
miniature scoundrel ! He had been one of the principle in- 
stigators of this barbarity, and if he believed in the recupe 
rative energies of prostrated justice he had reason to tremble. 

In his trepidation he sought the quarters of Jose Castro. 
This man was his monster superior. With the general out* 



88 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

lines of the human frame, he united every lineament of a 
thoroughbred ourang-outang : as, very long arms, very large 
brawny hands, a very heavy body, and a very contemptible 
face, vTinkled and drawn into a broad concentrated scowl 
of unsatisfied selfishness. 

This dignitary made the rounds of the guard and retired 
to his couch, satisfied that he was really what he modestly 
called himself — the Napoleon of Western America ! Pinto 
took up his position with great resolution in the shade of an 
adobie wall, at a safe distance from the prisons ; and when 
I I'eft the ground he was employing his knees in knocking 
each other into a stiff stand against unmanly fear. Nothing 
else worthy of note occurred during the night. 

On the morning of the 22d the governor sent again for 
the American. He would not see the messenger. About 
nine o'clock, however, he walked down before the prisons 
and spoke a word of cheer to their inmates. They were 
wretched, but hope was awakened in them by his presence 
and fearlessness. 

There was evident consternation among the dons. That 
American signalling the Don Quixote every morning as she 
swept into the harbor, and the idea of a fleet outside, its 
commander ashore, communicating with it by a fast-sailing 
brig, and that commander defying the governor, breaking 
through the guards, conversing with the prisoners, and those 
martial songs by night, were ominous circumstances in the 
eyes of those contemptible tyrants ! 

About noon it was reported that the prisoners would have 
a trial ! A little advance this ! The government had begun 
to yield to its fears, what it would not to its sense of justice. 

The next morning, the 23d, the entire standing army, con- 
sisting of sixteen filthy half-breeds, and a corps of about sixt^ 
volunteers, mustered at the beat of the drum before the pri- 
sons. Twenty-one of the prisoners were brought out between 
the lines, marched to the governor's house, and seated on the 
grass in front of it. They were emaciated and pallid, but re- 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 89 

Bolute. The American pushed his way through the crowd 
of officers and citizens, seated himself within twelve feet of 
the prisoners, and manifested to them by the sincerest com- 
passion and most resolute acts, that if they died he died with 
them. He had agreed with them to appear before the prison 
at the middle hour of night, on the twenty-fourth, and go 
with them to freedom or a brave death, if they were not fairly 
tried and on evidence condemned, or released before the fol- 
lowing midnight. This promise they felt would be kept. 

The trial, as it was called, soon commenced. Each man 
was summoned singly from his seat to a low^er room in the 
governor's house, and called upon to produce his passport. 
Most of them replied, that they w^ere arrested in their fields 
or workshops, and were not permitted to go to their resi- 
dences for papers or anything else. 

To this the Alcalde who sat in judgment said, " I have 
no evidence before me of your lawful right to remain in 
California." 

The next question was, '' What do you know of a revo- 
lutionary movement under Graham ?" 

The reply was, " I know nothing of any such movement 
or intention." 

'' What meant that advertisement for a horse-rac^, put 
forth by Graham?" 

'* It meant what such advertisements have meant for the 
last five years : a wish on the part of Graham to run his 
American horse in California." 

*' Nothing more ? Nothing more V* 

This was the form of trial in each case. The only favor 
they craved was, that they might have an interpreter who 
understood both languages. This was denied them. A 
miserable tool of the government, who spoke the English 
so badly that he could never make himself understood, 
succeeded, by his manner of translating their answers, in 
making them confess themselves guilty of high treason, and 
other misdrni:eanors worthy of the bullet. 



SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

Aftei all had pcissed this ordeal, a Botany Bay Convict, by 
the name of Garner, was called in evidence on behalf of the 
government. His testimony rwrnoved all lingering doubts. 
He established the unqualified guilt of all. Graham, in par- 
ticular, who had been preferred over him as commander of 
the foreign riflemen in Alvarado's revolution, and whom he 
had previously attempted to kill, he declared to have formed a 
scheme of ambition, which, had it not been discovered, ^vould 
have dug the grave of every Spaniard in California ! ! This 
man's testimony was written out and signed by his murderous 
hand. It may be in due time a blister on his perjured soul. 

The reported confessions of each prisoner were reduced to 
writing in the Spanish language. They contained, as I after- 
ward learned in Mexico, things never said, accounts of acts 
never performed, and bequests of property to their persecu- 
tors, their jailers, and to those, who, on several occasions, 
thrust sabres at their hearts when nearly helpless in the dun- 
geons of Monterey, which I need not say were never ma<ie. 
Few of them could read Spanish, and none were permitted to 
peruse these documents. They were compelled to sign them, 
as poor Morris was, by threats of instant death if they refused. 
Thus ended the trial of one hundred and sixty-odd Americans 
and Britons, before a court of Californian Arabs ! What its 
judgment would be was the painful question in every mind ! 
A few of them had been sent to their places of residence with- 
out arras, or any intimation whether it would be the sublime 
pleasure of the villains that they should live or die : the greater 
part were remanded to the prisons. And again, while they 
sat, stood, and laid on the mud floors of their cells, and clanked 
their fetters and handcuffs, they sang " Hail Columbia," 
and " Rule Britannia," as another night of wo passed 
away ! That spectre fleet and its commander were the only 
hope between them and death. On this they leaned ! 

On the morning of the twenty-third the drmns beat at 
early dawn, and the whole military force paraded before the 
dungeons. An imposing display was that. The clanking of 



TRAVELS IN THE C A L I F O R N I A S . 91 

rusty swords and scabbards, the jingling of loose gun-locks, 
and the right-about-face-forward-rnarch operations of these 
bandy-legged, pale-livered, disconsolate sons of Mars, pray- 
ing to the saints that they might not be annihilated by such ter- 
rible events, told a story of valor, which future ages ought to 
hear with appalled ears ! The times which try men's souls 
Jiave always been remarkable in some way; and this day 
was chietly conspicuous for beef and beans. The quantity 
of these articles which they devoured at breakfast, was in- 
credible ; and the grease and dirt which they consumed, 
the glare and quick twinkling of the eyes for more, and the 
panting obesity of their persons when the meal was ended, 
indicated great perseverance, if not indomitable bravery. 

As in other countries talent is measured by impudence, 
moral worth by long faces andstereotypedsolemnity of coun- 
tenance, and rank by the elevation of the nose and the suc- 
cessful villainy of ancestors, so in California, with the same 
unquestionable good sense, do the cavalieros measure their 
manliness of character, their bravery in arms, their civil and 
social elevation, by the capacity of their stomachs and their 
eloquence in boasting. Never were men happier or more 
thoroughly self-content than the troops of Monterey at their 
beef and beans. The events of The Revolution were dis- 
cussed with full mouths and laboring throats. LosEspanioles 
del Alta California, to wit, every Indian with a drop of Span- 
ish blood under his filthy skin, were muy bravos, extremely 
brave, and their conduct in the late troubles was second to 
nothing recorded since the siege of Mexico under Cortes! 

It is said by some one who pretends to know, that the 
world generally estimates us by the value we set upon our- 
selves. Whether this opinion be founded in truth or not, I 
am unable to determine. But certain it is, the Genius of 
Glory in these days seems to be in her dotage. Homer, 
Socrates, Luther and Washington, wear her laurels with so 
much grace, that the old jade appears to think it a mere 
amusement to make immortal men. Accordingly she 



92 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

throws the poet's wreath upon moon-struck ihymsterSj tlie 
philosopher's crown upon heads with long hair and dirty 
beards, that of the Reformer upon apes and brass-mounted 
women, and even tries to make men out of male Californi- 
ans. Sad mistakes are all these ; and particularly the last. 

About ten o'clock the troops were reviewed by Don Jose 
Castro. A little after eleven, all the prisoners except forty- 
six were pardoned. These the government would not libe- 
rate. They had acted a conspicuous part in Alvarados' 
revolution, and were feared as likely to demand for them- 
selves and their companions the fulfilment of the promises 
which he had made them. The American had suggested 
that they should be sent to the Consuls of their respective 
governments at Tepic. A ship which had been chartered 
for that purpose (the Roger Williams, of Boston), was float- 
ing in the harbor. The doors of the prisons were opened ; the 
emaciated tenants came out, chained two and two, hand and 
foot, some of them with no clothing except a pair of ragged pan- 
taloons. The Spaniards had robbed them not only of their 
cattle, horses, mules, and freedom, but also of their wardrobe. 
They were marched towards the shore, clanking their chains. 
Poor Graham and Morris were so heavily loaded with irons 
that it required four stout Indians to carry them. 

The American mingled among them, and dissuaded them 
from a contemplated insurrection on ship-board. Three Cal- 
ifornian women followed the prisoners. They were wives, 
and had children. They clung to their husbands and wept 
aloud. Castro ordered them to be driven away with blows. 
They were beaten with swords, but would not go. They 
led their children, and helped bear the chains that were 
galling the bleeding limbs of those whom they loved. 

They said, " the soldiers have taken all our horses, cat- 
tle and property, and now they take you away from us for 
ever ! May God take our lives ! Oh, Mary, mother of 
God, pray for us !" 

As they were going down to the boat, poor old Grahpin 



TRAVELS iN THE CALIFORNIAS. 93 

seemed entirely broken-hearted. The American said to 
him, " Be brave, Graham, be brave! Let no Tennessean 
ever think of yielding in this way. Raise your head and 
keep it erect. Once landed at San Bias, you are safe. I 
will see you when you land." 

" Ah," said Graham," I never can be a man again after 
having these feet bound with irons by a Californian; never 
again ! I could bear to be a prisoner to a brave and decent 
people, but to be caught and cooped up, chained and exported 
like a tub of lard, by these here scabs of mankind, is mighty 

bad ! No, I never shall be a man again, Mr. . Here, 

take my hand. We should have been riddled with bullets if 
you had not been here, could the rascals have drawn a bead 
close enough to hit us ! I never shall be a man again ! 
Irons on the legs of a man who fought for them, who made 
the cowards what they are ! With my fifty rifles about me, I 
could drive the devils from the whole coast or lay them away 
to rot. But I won't think on't. I never can be a man again !" 

They put him and some others into a boat and pushed off 

for the ship. ^' Farewell, Mr. , farewell : but stop, 

hold on ! — have you got money enough to get home with ? 
I will let you have some in San Bias. But I never shall 
be Graham again !" , 

The boats continued to ply between the ship and the shore 
until all were carried on board. The multitude then retired to 
the town. Deep feelings struggled in every breast at the termi- 
nation of this affair. Alvarado was mad that he had not shot 
Graham, to whom he owed $2,235 and other obligations ; 
those cavalieros whohad been rejected by ladies to make way 
for foreign suitors, were enraged beyond measure that most 
of them had been left in the country. The ladies generally 
rejoiced that no blood had been shed ; the wives of those who 
had been sent on board the prison-ship, sat on shore beneath 
the tree where the cross was erected by Padre Junipero, and 
wept upon the necks of their children, until the ship was out 
of sight. The American suggested that the town might be 



^ gCEiNES in THE PACIFIC. 

Taken, and the perpetrators of such outrages be disposta of at 
rope's end ; but the proposition was discountenanced by the 
residents. The church was opened, and a Te Deum sungf 
for the deliverance of the country ! After this, each class 
true to their leading emotions, gathered in knots about town, 
and talked of these strange things till supper separated 
them for the night. During the evening some of the offi- 
cers of government called at Mr. Larkin's, and informed 
the American that the governor had sent the prisoners to 
the American and British Consuls at Tepic, via San Bias, 
and that the vessel would put into Santa Barbara for pro- 
visions and other prisoners. 

The twenty-fourth morning of April was clear ; the sun 
came up the eastern hills on a landscape of sweet things. No 
one born and dwelling in the rugged, changing seasons of the 
North can know, without experiencing, the delights of a cli- 
mate like that of California. From spring to spring again 
all is friendly ; from morning till morning comes again all is 
pleasant to breathe and to see ; from hour to hour the 
body feels in the air a balmy blessing ; from moment to 
moment the blood leaps vigorously through the frame. 

Near eleven o'clock the troops were in motion, and Mr. 
Larkirj and^^ myself went down to the public green, to see 
what might transpire. 

We fou\id the green covered with the people kneeling and 
crossing . femselves, and the priest in full robes performing 
high-mas? near the door of the governor's dwelling. His 
Excellent!? muj v/as kneeling with his officers before the 
altar as devoutly as if he had been obedient to the com- 
mandments from his youth till that time. It was shocking 
to hear him respond to the prayers for repentance, while 
any observer might see the malignity wiiNi which he had 
sought the lives of his friends, struggling among the muscles 
of his face and burning in his eyes ! 

ihe services being ended, the governor retired into hid 
*iouse. Thanks had been given to God forsavingthe countrv 



""RAVELS IN THfc CALIFORNIAS 95 

Jrom danger whicli never existed, and for protecting the 
villains tliat pretended its existence as an excuse for shed- 
ding blood. 

No other event occurred that clay worthy of being no- 
ticed, (ixcept the wives of those poor fellows who were 
floating down the coast in the prison-ship went weeping 
through the streets, beseeching all they met to go down to 
Santa Barbara and bring back their husbands. 

I spent my time among the foreigners, who had been let 
out of prison, in gathering information relative to the coun- 
try, which will be given in another part of the volume. 

The evening was passed at Mr. Larkin's. We were hap- 
py, not because we felt no danger around us, for there was 
much of it. But we were glad that no more groans came 
up from the damp dungeons ! That none of our countrymen 
were calling for air, and water, and food, from those infernal 
dens ! Alas, for those who were on their way to Mexico 
We thought of them sadly ; they might be dying ; but we 
called hope to our aid, and believed that better hours would 
soon dawn on their misery. More than one hundred of onr 
countrymen were released from impending death ! Bolts 
grated no more ! chains clanked no more on the silen' 
night ! And we felt in our own persons something of that 
returning security to life which sends through the sou^ of 
the most reckless and inexpressible sense of pleasure. 

The next morning the green before the governor's hoase 
was graced with a portly effigy of Senor Judas Iscariot ! 
One ankle out of joint, and other parts disarranged, for the 
especial gratification of his inferiors in moral qualities. The 
senor was assumed to be dead. His optics glared rather 
sorrowfully upon the multitude around him, as if loth to 
look the last time on congenial hearts ! He held in his 
hand a scroll, containing a last will and testament, in which 
his several virtues and possesions were bequeathed to vari- 
ous persons residing in the country. 

In the afternoon the American and some other g-entlemen 



j6 scenes in the pacific. 

were invited by an English resident to ?ifesta on the shores 
of the bay. And being in a mood to seize upon anything to 
divert thought from the unpleasant reminiscences of the past 
week, we gladly accepted the invitation, without knowing 
indeed what a Californiany^^^a might be. Dr. Bale was one 
of the guests, and kindly conducted us to the place selected 
for the ceremonies. It was among the trees, a short distance 
southwest of the anchorage ; a wild, rude spot. The old 
trees, which had thrown their branches over the savage before 
a white man had touched the shores, were rotting on the 
ground, and formed the fuel of our fire ! The ancient rocks 
stood around, covered with the moss of ages ! The winds 
sang in the trees ! The ringing cadences of the towering 
pine, the deep bass of the strong spreading oak, the mellow 
alto of the flowering shrubs, the low, soft voice of the 
grasses, nature's great ^oiian lyre, breathed sweet music ! 
The old wilderness was there, unshorn, and holy, respond- 
ing to the songs of birds in the morn of the opening year. 

When we arrrived, half a dozen brunettes were spread- 
ing cloths upon the grass, and displaying upon them boiled 
ham, dried beef, tongue, bread, pies, cigars, and various 
kinds of wines, from the vineyards of the country ; so that 
Sifesta proved to be an invitation for us to eat and drinn 
among a group of joyous children and smiling lasses. Yes 
smiling, hearty Californian lasses. Who is not glad to see 
me repeat words that speak of the smiles of Women ? I do 
not mean those heart-rending efforts at grinning, which one 
so often meets in mechanical society ; but those pulsations 
of genuine joy and truth, which come up impulsively from 
woman's real nature, shedding on the dwelling-places of the 
race the sweetest elements of the social state. It u that 
sunshine of our moral being *vhich beams on our cradles, 
on the paths of our childhood, on the stormy skies of mis- 
fortune in the years of manhood, which warms the chilled 
heart of age into renewed life, and shines on till sight and 
sense are lost in the dark crateway to the after state ! 



TRAVELS Ilf THE CALIFORNIAS. 97 

We ate and drank freely. Who could do otherwise ? The 
mellow laugh of childhood, the holy kindness of maternal 
care, the pride of the paternal heart, the love of woman, the 
sky and fragrant breezes of a Californian lawn, the open sea, 
the giant woodlands, the piping insects, the carolling of a thou- 
sand birds, the voices of a boundless hospitality, invited us to 
do so. The finest dish of all the goodly array of fat things, 
the brunette lips excepted, was the roasted mussels. The In- 
dians in attendance gathered a number of bushels, piled them 
upon a large log fire, and in a few minutes presented them to 
us, thoroughly cooked and delicious to the taste. Indeed I 
hope for no better fish. They are tender as an oyster, with 
as fine flavor ; and the abundance of them is really remarka- 
ble ! The coast is lined with them. 

Our festa ended near sunset. It had been as agreeable as 
our hosts' best attentions could render it. The ladies also had 
vied with each other to make the occasion happy. But their 
gladness was forced. A deep gloom like that which the thun- 
der-cloud throws over the flowering meadow-land, saddened 
their smiles, arrested the laugh half-uttered, bent the figure, and 
shaded the warm glow of joy in the eye, with the cold 
watchfulness of alarm! Such was the influence of that 
prison ship, the last speck of which had been watched, as it 
sunk, hull, spars, and streamer, over the bending sea, freight- 
ed with chains and the misery of fellow-countrymen, that tba 
heart could not be persuaded into happiness ! 



CHAPTER VI. 

A Ri^"5— Vale of San Carmelo— Indians employed— The Surf— Bay o/ 
San Carmelo— Mission Edifices— Belfrey Bells— Deserted and Sad— 
An Indian Lawyer and his Wife— A Speech— Return to Monterey- 
Embarkation — Weighing Anchor— An American Tar— Tom's New 
Axe— General Training Day— Becomes a Salt— Tom's opinion of the 
Land and its Inhabitants— A finebreeze—PuntoConcepcion— Islands — 
A calm— A night on deck— Landing at Santa Barbara— The Prison 
Ship— El Mission de Santa Barbara— Its Fountains, Tanks, Church, 
Pictures and Cemetery— The Prisoners— Taking leave of them. 

In the afternoon of the twenty-fifth, three or four Ameri- 
cans and an English physician rode out on horseback to the 
mission of San Carmelo, one league and a half southwesterly 
from Monterey. The road leading to it lay over an undulating 
country, covered with the growing wild grasses. Its general 
aspect much resembled that of the broken lands of Illinois 
The hills, however, were higher, the gravel of the roads 
coarser. The ti-ees were a species of soft, low oak, pine and 
birch. A kind of clover and some other species of grasses 
crowned every knoll and height. And the odor of that vege- 
tation ! Incense from the boundless altar of nature ! The 
teeming fields of spring on the rich hill sides, sending up into 
the broad sky the sweet perfume of opening leaf and flower. 

The glancing flight of the butterfly, the nimble leaps of 
the hare, the hurried snort of the startled deer, the half-clad 
Indian lounging in the genial sun-light, mottled the view 
along the way. 

The valley of the mission is a charming one. It comes 
down from the north-eastern highlands, accompanied by a 



TRAVELS IN MIL .ALII- .INIAS 99 

«!ear bright stream, to the sea. It is ten miles in length, two 
miles wide near the ocean, and narrower as it rises among 
the lofty ridges. Rio Carmelo winds very much ; and in its 
bends are many stately groves, between which lie the for- 
saken fields of the mission, overgrown with wild grass and 
brush. Not entirely forsaken, for here and there is found an 
Indian hut, with its tiled roof, mud walls and floor, tenanted, 
but falling to decay. The inmates are the spiritual children 
of the old Padres, who taught them rude agriculture, archi- 
tecture, and the Being and worship of God. Since the de- 
parture of those good men, the fields have been neglected, 
and the Indians have sunk into vice and degradation. A sad 
thing is it to see the furrow of civilisation turned back ; the 
thistle usurping the place of the wheat ; rank weeds choking 
the vineyard, and the rose trodden in the dust ! But so it is 
in the valley of San Carmelo. The Indians in different sec- 
tions were planting small plats of beans and maize. A mul« 
and an ox yoked together were used for draught. 

We rode to the water-side to look at the surf. It was a 
glorious sight that heaving up of the Great Deep on the 
land ! The shore was bold and fined with huge buried reefs. 
On these the swells, walls of bending water ten feet in 
height, dashed, broke, roared and died — a sheet of quarrelling 
foam — over the beach for miles around the bay. And as each 
wave retired, that beach of shells reduced to dust by the 
battering sea, sent up its countless hues, from pearly white to 
the richest violet, dancing and trembling over the green lawn 
on which we stood. This bay of San Carmelo is a large 
open bight, so filled with sunken rocks and sand bars, and so 
exposed to the winds from the south-west, as to be useless for 
a harbor. But it is a wild and grand thing to look out upon 
in storm or calm. On the south, rude rocks, old trees and 
desert hillocks bound it. On the north the lofty pines crowd 
down to its billows. On the north-west opens the valley of 
the missions. Over all its blue waters rave the surges, if the 
winds be up j or if still, in come the great swells, alive with 



J 00 BCEMES IN THE ACIFIC 

porpoise and seal, and bellow and die on the shore of San 
Carmelo. 

The mission buildings are situated on the north side of the 
valley near the sea. They stand on elevated ground, which 
overlooks the bay and seven or eight miles of the vale, 
fhey were inhabited by a family of half-breeds, who kept 
the keys of the church. The edifices are built around a 
square area of half an acre. On the west, south, and east 
sides of it, are the Indian houses with their ruined walls, scal- 
loped tile roofs, clay floors and open unglazed windows. On 
the north side are the church, the cells and dining hall of the 
Padres. The latter is about forty feet by twenty, lighted by 
open spaces in the outer wall, grated with handsomely turned 
wooden bars, and guarded by plank shutters, swinging inside. 
At the west end of this room is a small opening through 
which the food was passed from the kitchen. On the north 
side and east end are four doors opening into the cells of 
the friars. Everything appeared forsaken and undesirable. 
And yet I could not forbear a degree of veneration for those 
ancient closets of devotion ; those resting-places of the way- 
farer from the desert ; those temples of hospitality and prayer, 
erected by that band of excellent and daring men, who 
founded the Californian missions, and engraved on the heart of 
that remote wilderness, the features of civilisation and thft 
name of God. 

There was an outside stairway to the tower of the church. 
We ascended it and beheld the broken hills, the vales and the 
great heaving sea, with its monsters diving and blowing; 
and heard it sounding loudly far and near. We saw the 
ruined mission of San Carmelo, and the forsaken Indians 
strolling over its grounds ! On the timbers over head, hung 
six bells of different sizes — three of them cracked and tone- 
less. Formerly one of these rang to meals, to work, and 
rest ; and the others to the various services of the Catholic 
faith. Dr. Bale informed us, such was the regularity of these 
establishments that the laboring animals stopped in the ro^d or 



y^AVF. r, ^ IN THE C.iLIFORNIAS 101 

ftirrow, whenever the bells called the Indian to his duties 
But prayers are no longer heard in San Carmelo ; the tower 
no lunger commands obedience to God ; the buildings are 
crumbling to dust ; the rank grass is crowding its courts ; the 
low moss is creeping over its gaping walls j and the ox and 
Diule are running wild on its hills. 

The walls of the church are of stone masonry ; the roof 
of brick tiles. The whole structure is somewhat lofty, 
and looks down upon the surrounding scenery, like an old 
baronial castle, from which the chase, the tournament, and 
the reign of beauty have departed. An oaken arm-chair, 
Drown and marred with age, stood on the piazza, proclaiming 
o our lady of Guadaloupe and a group of saints rudely 
sketched upon the walls, that Carmelo was deserted by living 
aien. 

My respect for the profession of " glorious uncertainties," 
will not permit me to leave this valley without introducing to 
vhe kind regards of the reader a brother lawyer. He lived 
on the banks of the Carmelo in a httle mud hut, surrounded 
by some beautiful fields under good cultivation. His stock 
consisted of a number of tame cows, a few goats, uncounted 
flocks of domestic fowls, and a dozen dogs. When about a 
quarter of a mile distant, the dogs opened their artillery in a 
running fire upon us ; the cocks flew upon the fences and crow- 
ed terribly ; the pullets cackled ; and altogether, the commotion 
surprised our horses into a general snort, and ourselves into a 
laugh, prolonged and loud as our lungs could sustain, at such 
a welcome to the residence of the only professional lawyer in 
the Californias ! 

We rode up briskly in the midst of this cackling, crowing 
and barking, and dismounted before the door of a tolerably 
comfortable hut, in the standing presence of the brown, flat- 
nosed, broad-cheeked, ragged Indian Esquire. His head was 
bare, his leathern pants full of holes and glazed with grease, 
his blanket hung in tatters. His wife hobbled out as blind as 
a fire-dog, and decrepid with years apd hard labor. One or 



103 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

two other Indians stood about among the hens and duckSj 
grinning and squinting at us in much wonder and humility ! 
Such was the group on the hen-dog-Indian side of the 
scene. Ourselves occupied the other. 

We stood at our horses' necks, one hand on the rein, and 
awaited something, we knew not what. The Esquire rolled 
his little black eyes in delight to see us ; put one hand on the 
hip, and stood on one leg, and then changed into an opposite 
position ; shaking and giggling with joy meanwhile, and ap- 
parently not knowing where to begin to entertain either him- 
self or us. At length, Dr. Bale came to his relief, by referring 
to the fact that he owned more land before the mission was 
founded, than he now seemed to enjoy. At this he took fire, 
and went into a dissertation on the titles of the Padres and 
Indians; the substance of which, I learned from the Doctor, 
"Was, that the Padres had taken possession of the valley about 
forty years before, had taught the Indians to work and pray, 
had given a portion of his lands to other Indians, and when 
civil troubles came, had killed most of the cattle and sold the 
hides and tallow to ships, for hard dollars, and with bags of 
these dollars left the country and the Indians who had earned 
them. " There," said he, pointing to his blind wife, " is all 
they have left me of my wife ; she worked hard and is blind ; 
and these little fields are all they have left me of my broad 
lands." 

His violent gesticulation and tone of voice led me to the 
belief that he was tinctured with mania. The poor fellow 
and his wife excited our commiseration deeply, and I cannot 
remember them, even now, without reviving the pity I felt for 
the " Indian lawyer" and his poor blind wife, tottering about 
her lowly hut. 

From these premises we turned rein for Monterey. Our 
Californian steeds laid hoof to the rough road in a manner wor- 
thy their Arabian sires. Speed, speed ! Backward the gravel 
flew from their willing feet, as we mounted the heights. 
Gully and rock were leaped with a joyful neigh ! We reached 



TRAVELS IN THE CA..F0K.tIA'3. 103 

the highland when the sun was a hand's breadth above the 
ocean. His burning farewell lay on the verdant hill-tops. 
Onward ! speed onward ! The Bay is before us ; its crested 
billows are gilded, like fretted gold, with rays from the uppe. 
rim of the sinking sun ! 

On the twenty-eighth of April the Don Quixote had com- 
pleted her business with P. I. Farnham & Co.'s ship Alciope, 
and was ready for sea. Captain Paty had laid in a generous 
supply of fresh beef, vegetables, and other comforts for his 
passengers ; the foreign residents had presented the American 
with many little tokens of ref]jard, in the form of fruits, wines, 
&c., to make the voyage comfortable. 

Eleven o'clock, A. M., we took leave of our countrymen, 
and others of the Saxon blood, on the rock where the prison- 
ers' chains had lately clanked, and shoved oif for the ship. 

One of the unpleasant circumstances attending journeys m 
wild and dangerous countries, is, the parting from persons of 
kindred feelings with whom we have wept or rejoiced. Many 
who had suffered in Monterey were still there. They had es- 
caped an apparently certain doom, and I had felt keenly every 
sJiade which progressive events cast on their fate, or lifted from 
their hopes of being saved from the death of felons. They were 
saved ! They were glad ! But the fear of returning tyranny 
still hung over them. The same malignity held the reins of 
power ; and the dungeon and bullet were under the control of 
the same demons. It was hard parting with those brave 
and abused men. The throats of villains could be made to 
bleed ! The walls of justice and mercy could be reared 
around the social state in California. The acting government 
could have raised no force to prevent it. Britons and Ameri- 
cans could have done it ; and the halter been made to claim 
its own. But that prison-ship and my hearth called me. 

" On board !" " On board !" Our boat lies under the lee 
of the good barque Don Quixote ; the ropes of the gangway 
ar£ seized; and we stand on deck. " Man the windlass;' 
" heave the anchor, cheerily, boys," is ordered and done. 



104 SCENES IN THE P A C 1 7 I C . 

This is always a cheering time on ship-board. " HeaVB 
ahoy ;" and the old salt's eye brightens, his step quickens, and 
his voice rings gladly, as Hnk after link of the ponderous cable 
tumbles aboard, till the flukes of the anchor lie high on the 
bows, and the ship is given to her helm and the breeze. 

The wind, the sea, and good planks between him and the 
bottom, and the stars and stripes at the mizen, are the 
substantial comforts of an American tar. Supplied with these 
and a clear sw^eep from the headlands, he will leave the 
shore without a feeling that it will ever be his wish to return. 
Indeed, the real sailor, he who has wound every yarn of his 
happy hours around the windlass, despises the land. We had 
in the Don Quixote an example of this kind. He was a tall, 
slabsided Yankee, from the State of Maine ; with a hand like 
a grappling-iron, hung to a mass of shoulder and chest that 
would have been formidable among buffalo. His deck name 
was Tom ; to which the adjective long, was sometimes pre- 
fixed, as he explained it, " in order to add a fathom to its 
scund." 

When sixteen years of age, he had heard that Maine was 
noted far abroad for its long mortals and heavy fists ; and 
dreamed that he was not so deficient in these qualities as to 
be excluded from the distinction which might arise from them. 
He therefore determined to avail himself of the firs-t favora- 
ble occasion for reaping the harvest of that notoriety to which 
he seemed to be born. Nor did he wait an unpleasant length 
of time for such an opportunity. His father returned home 
one evening with a new axe, purchased for Tom's especial 
use, in the lumber forest. It was the night previous to " the 
General Training-day," at Portland ; and he proposed, as the 
morrow would be a leisure day, that Tom should test the 
metal of his axe, in cutting away a dry hemlock tree which 
had fallen across the public road. A mere suggestion from the 
father was the law of his household. Tom, therefore, ate his 
breakfast, next morning, with becoming submissiveness, and 
about seven o'clock struck his new axe into the dry hemlock 




Long Tom Sassafras. — P. 105. 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 105 

It rose, fell, and clinked in the liard knots ; and occasionally 
sinking into the wood a depth sufficient to hold without hia 
aid, left him at liberty to chew his tobacco, and think of his con- 
dition. 

The neighboring lads came riding past. They jeered him 
for his want of spirit, once, again, a third thne, and onward, 
until Tom began to think that his situation was not quite so 
agreeable as it would be, if he, also, with a pistareen in his 
pocket, were on his way to the gingerbread carts of the pa- 
rade ground. To be kept at work on General Training-day, 
was at war with all precedent; that was a holy day for 
young people throughout all the land of johnny-cakes. A 
little reflection, therefore, convinced him that his father's re- 
quirement was somewhat unkind ; a little more thought and 
cbnsiderable love of gingerbread, demonstrated that chopping 
wood on that day was not to be done by Long Tom Sassa- 
fras ; and depositing his axe in the corn-house, he went to 
the General Training, received a flogging from his father in 
the presence of an auctioneer of Yankee Notions, shipped on 
board a lumber sloop bound for Boston, and from that time 
became a Salt. 

Tom considered the land well nigh a nuisance. It had a 
few points of value It was useful as a hiding-place from a 
storm ; useful as a hospital for " a fresh" to cure the scurvy ; 
as a convenient substitute for a " log" to show when the 
voyage is ended ; as a lumber yard for the wherewithal to 
Duild keels ; and as a place in which small fish may rendez- 
Fous. But the sea was a greater part of the Globe ; the 
home of freemen ; where they have a plenty of sound air to 
breathe, and nothing but the will of Heaven to curtail tlieir 
movements. " On the land it is otherwise. One's tarpaulin 
is knocked off at every second step on their brick-decked 
gangways ; every lubber in straps and tights who sees fit to 
pass before you can up helm, runs into you, carries away your 

bowsprit, and d ns your eyes because you could not luflTinto 

the walls of a building to give him lee-way. And then the 



166 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

land is all mud and reefs ; everything upon it is dirty ; the 
Ladies, God knows I love the Ladies and pity them, can't 
keep themselves tidy. I've seen many a brace of them that 
required a fortnight's holy-stoning to get down to their natu- 
ral color. They are obliged to paint themselves to cover up 
the dirt and keep from looking weather-beaten. I never 
knew a sensible sailor that wasn't glad to leave the land for 
the glorious old sea. Their ideas, those land lubbers, about 
what is comfortable and beautiful, are not worth a ball of 
spunyarn. They talk to you about the dangers of the sea, 
just as if there was no lee coast to run one's head and toes 
against on the land ; about the shady groves on a May-day, 
just as if there were no May-day shade under the brave old 
canvass of Neptune; and about the purling brooks and the 
music of birds, just as if there were neither water at sea, nor 
any albatross to sail and scream in the sun, nor happy petrels 
to sing in the storm. And about being buried in the sea ! 
This they think is a dreadful thing ! They thrust their eyes 
half out of their heads when you tell them it is better to be 
eaten clean up by a decent shark, than to be stuffed away a 
few feet under ground among toads and worms and other 
varmints ! And if you tell them that when a fellow dies a1 
sea, they sew him up in a strong bit of canvas, and hang a 
weight to his feet, read prayers over him and drop hinp 
solemnly into the ocean, and he goes down into the clear cleaF 
water, two or three miles perhaps, and there sleeps higl 
above the bottom, high above dirt and worms, the lubber? 
thmk he is out of the latitude of the resurrection and Heaven 
and all. I am for the sea. I would not mind shipping on 
the quarter-deck a voyage or two, to see how it would seem 
to whistle the boys into the top-gallant stays in a dead north- 
easter. But I should want to be before the mast. That's 
the home for me, boys." 

" Haul taut the weather main brace there" ! 

" Aye, aye, sir ;" and away skipped our Maine boy to his 
<!uty. 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIA ft 107 

We bx'i a fine weeze from the time we weighed, till twelve 
o*clock on tne twenty-ninth, when the wind died gradually 
away to a calm. During the night we lay off Punto Con- 
repcion ; a rough ragged point of land forty miles north-west 
of Santa Barbara. On the thirtieth, a light breeze bore us 
early in the morning past San Miguel. This is an island, 
about fifteen miles from the coast. It is ten miles in circum- 
ference, with a rocky, barren and dry surface, marked here and 
there with a few fruitful spots and streams of water. At 
nine o'clock we were off Santa Rosa ; an island about the 
same distance from the land, twenty miles in circumference, 
piled with lofty barren hills, interspersed with a few forests 
and fertile districts. Next came Santa Cruz; an oblong 
island forty miles in circumference, with some woodlands and 
fruitful vales. Farther off shore and southward, are the 
islands of Santa Barbara, San Nicholas and San Clemente. 
They lie in a line running south-east and north-west, and 
form the outer wall of the roadstead, called the Canal de 
Santa Barbara. These islamio have much high land, com- 
posed of dark shining rocks, apparently of volcanic origin. 
They are partially covered with trees, but a greater portion 
of their surface is barren sands and rocks. They are densely 
populated with goats. 

Near night a calm came on, and our sails, after flapping 
awhile, hung lifeless upon the spars. This was a very annoy- 
ing circumstance. All on board felt extremely anxious to be 
in Santa Barbara that night lest the prison-ship should leave 
before we arrived. About twelve o'clock, however, a slight 
breeze sprang up, which bore us along two knots the 
hour. The air was so bland on deck that I chose a berth 
among some loose sails in the long boat, in preference to the 
heated cabin. It v/as a pure night. No vapor? obscured the 
sky. No harsh winJs disturbed the waters. Every livin^f 
thing seemed reposing and smiling in its dreams of joy. Th*i 
birds on the land and water should be excepted. They were 



I OS SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

twittering softly one to another, coursing through the air and 
marshalling and gabbling among the waves, as if keeping 
vigil over the slumbers of Nature ! 

The coast from Monterey to the Canal de Santa Barbara is 
broken into elevated hills, fringed with forests of pine and oak, 
and covered with the wild grasses From these flow many 
valuable little streams, which gurgle and plash down deep 
and verdant ravines to the sea. It is a beautiful wilderness ; 
a country for the wild horse, the mighty grisly bear, the un- 
domesticated cattle of a thousand hills ; a blithe domain for 
the human race, when true and valiant men shall govern it. 

The first sound that fell upon my ear on the first day of 
May, was the rippling of the water at the ship's side. She 
was moving slowly down the Canal de Santa Barbara. At 
nine o'clock we cast anchor before the town, lowered the 
boat and shot away to the beach. The prison-ship was lying 
at anchor in the roadstead ! Our countrymen were incarce- 
rated at the mission ! We might be of some service to them ; 
and that expectation gave us all infinite pleasure, in being 
again in their neighborhood. 

Santa Barbara is situated on an inclined plane, which rises 
gradually from the sea side to a range of picturesque high- 
lands, three and a half miles from the sea. The town itself is 
three quarters of a mile from the landing. The houses are 
chiefly built in the Spanish mode, adobie walls, and roofs of tile. 
These tiles are made of clay, fashioned into half cylinders, 
and burned like brick. In using them, the first layer is placed 
hollow side up ; the second inversely, so as to lock over the 
first. Their ends overlap each other as common shingles do. 
This roofing serves very well in dry weather. But when the 
driving southwesters of the winter season come on, it affords 
a poor shelter. Very few of the houses have glass windows. 
Open spaces in the walls, protected with bars of wood, and 
nlank shutters, serve instead. Mr. A. B. Thompson, a wealthy 
and hospitable American merchant, has erected a residence 



TRAVELS IN T H R C A L F R N I A S . 109 

in the centre of the town, which bears very striking testimo- 
ny to his being a civilized man. 

There is an old Catholic mission, one mile and thr*^. 
quarters above the town, called El Mission de Santa Barbara. 
The church itself is a stone edifice, with two towers on the 
end towards the town, and a high gable between them. The 
friars complimented Father Time, by painting on the latter 
something in the shape of a clock dial. In the towers are 
hung a number of rich toned bells, brought from old Spain 
nearly a hundred years ago. The roof is covered with burnt 
clay tiles, laid in cement. The residence of the Padres, also 
built of stone, forms a wing with the church towards the sea. 
The prisons form another, towards the highlands. Hard by 
are clusters of Indian huts, constructed of adobies and tile, 
standing in rows, with streets between. 

The old Padres seem to have united with their missionary 
zeal a strong sense of comfort and taste. They laid off a 
beautiful garden, a few rods from the church, surrounded it with 
a high substantial fence of stone laid in Roman cement, and 
planted it with limes, almonds, apricots, peaches, apples, 
pears, quinces, &c., which are now annually yielding their 
several fruits in abundance. Before the church they erected 
a series of concentric urn fountains, ten feet in height, from 
the top of which the pure liquid bursts, and falls from one to 
another till it reaches a large pool at the base ; from this it 
is led off a short distance to the statue of a grisly bear, from 
whose mouth it is ejected into a reservoir of solid masonry, 
six feet wide and seventy long. From the pool at the base 
of the urn fountains water is taken for drinking and household 
use. The long reservoir is the theatre of the battling, 
plashing, laughing and scolding of the washing-day Around 
these fountains are solid, cemented stone pavements, and ducis 
to carry off the surplus water. Nothing of the kind can be in 
better taste, more substantial, or useful. 

Above the church and its cloisters, they brought the water 



no SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

around the brow of a green hill, in an open stone aqueduct, 
a rapid, noisy rivulet, to a square reservoir of beautiful ma- 
sonry. Below, and adjoining this, are the ruins of the Pa- 
dres' grist-mill. Nothing is left of its interior struci are, but 
the large oaken ridgepole. Near the aqueduct wh ch car- 
ries the water into the reservoir of the mills, stands a small 
stone edifice ten feet in length by six in width. This is 
the bath. Over the door, outside, is the representation of a 
lion's head, from which pours a beautiful jet of water. This 
little structure is in a good state of preservation. A cross sur- 
mounts it, as, indeed, it does everything used by the Catholic 
missionaries of these wilderness regions. Below the ruins of 
the grist-mill is another tank one hundred and twenty-feet 
square, by twenty deep, constructed like the one above. In 
this was collected water for supplying the fountains, irrigating 
the grounds below, and for the propulsion of different kinds 
of machinery. Below the mission was the tan-yard, to which 
the water was carried in an aqueduct, built on the top of a 
stone wall, from four to six feet high. Here was manufac- 
tured the leather used in making harnesses, saddles, bridles, 
and Indian clothing. They cultivated large tracts of land with 
maize, wheat, oats, peas, potatoes, beans, and grapes. Their 
old vineyards still cover the hill-sides. When the mission 
was at the height of its prosperity, there were several hun- 
dred Indians laboring in its fields, and many thousands of cat- 
tle and horses grazing in its pastures. But its splendor has 
departed, and with it its usefulness. The Indians who were 
made comfortable on these premises, are now squalid and mise- 
rable. The fields are a waste! Nothing but the church 
retains its ancient appearance. We will enter and describe 
its interior. It is one hundred and sixty feet long by sixty in 
width. Its walls are eight feet in thickness. The height of 
the nave is forty feet. On the wall, to the right, hangs a 
picture representing a king and a monk up to their middle in 
the flames of purgatory Their posture is that of prayer and 



TRAVELS IN THE C A L I F R N I A S . Ill 

penitence ; but their faces do not indicate any decided con- 
sciousness of the bhstering foothold on which they stand. 
On the contrary, they wear rather the quiet aspect of persons 
who love their ease, and have an indolent kind of pleasure in 
the scenes around thera. On the other side, near the door of 
the confessional, is a picture of Hell. The Devil and his staff 
are represented in active service. The flames of his furnace 
are curling around his victims, with a broad red glare, that 
would have driyen Titian to madness. The old Monarch 
himself appears hotly engaged in wrapping serpents of fire 
around a beautiful female figure, and his subalterns, with flam- 
ing tridents, are casting torments on others, whose sins are 
worthy of less honorable notice. Immediately before the 
altar is a trap-door, opening into the vaults, where are buried 
the missionary Padres. Over the altar are many rich images 
of the saints. Among them is that of San Francisco, the 
patron of the missions of Upper California. Three silver 
candlesticks, six feet high, and a silver crucifix of the same 
height, with a golden image of the Saviour suspended on it, 
stand within the chancel. To the left of the altar is the sa- 
cristy, or priest's dressing-room. It is eighteen feet square, 
splendidly carpeted, and furnished with a wardrobe, chairs, 
mirrors, tables, ottoman, &c. 

In an adjoining room of the same size are kept the para- 
phernalia of worship. Among these are a receptacle of the 
host, of massive gold in pyramidal form, and weighing at 
least ten pounds avoirdupois, and a convex lens set in a block 
of gold, weighing a number of pounds, through which, on cer- 
tain occasions, the light is thrown so as to give the appearance 
of an eye of consuming fire. 

A door in the eastern wall of the church leads from the 
foot of the chancel to the cemetery. It is a small piece of 
ground enclosed by a high wall, and consecrated to the burial 
of those Indians who die in the faith of the Catholic Churck 
It is curiously arranged. Walls of solid masonry, six feel 



112 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

apart, are sunk six feet in depth, and to a level with the sur • 
face. Between these the dead are buried in such manner that 
their feet touch one wall and their heads the other. These 
grounds have been long siiice filled. In order, however, that 
no Christian Indian may be buried in a less holy place, the 
bones, after the flesh has decayed, are exhiuned and deposited 
m a little building on one corner of the premises. I entered 
this. Three or four cart-]oads of skulls, ribs, spines, leg-bones, 
arm-bones &c., lay in one corner. Beside them stood two 
hand -hearses with a small cross attached to each. About the 
walls hung the mould of death ! 

On the first of May the American made application lor 
permission to see the prisoners, and was refused. He had 
heard that they were in want of food, and proposed to supply 
them ; but was forbidden by Jose Castro, the officer in charge. 
The prison-ship had arrived at Santa Barbara on the twenty- 
fifth of April, and landed forty-one of the prisoners. Four 
others were retained on board to work. These forty-one men, 
during the whole passage from Monterey, had been chained to 
long bars of iron passing transversely across the hold of the 
ship. They were not permitted to go on deck, nor even to 
stand on their feet. A bucket was occasionally passed about 
for particular purposes, but so seldom as to be of little use. 
They were furnished with a mere morsel of food, and that of 
the worst quality. Of w^ater, they had scarcely enough to 
prevent death from thirst ; and so small and close was the 
place in which they were chained that it was not uncommon 
for the more debilitated to faint and lie some time in a lifeless 
state. When they landed, many of them had become so 
w^eak that they could not get out of the boat without aid. 
Their companions in chains assisted them, although threaten- 
ed w^ith instant death if they did so. After being set ashore, 
they were marched in the midst of drawn sw^ords and fixed 
bayonets, dragging their chains around bleeding limbs, one 
mile and three-quarters, to the mission of Santa Barbara • 



\ 



TRAVELS IN THE CA^IFORNIAS. 113 

Here they were put into a single room of the mission prisons, 
without floor or means of ventilation. The bottom of the 
cell was soft mud ! In this damp dungeon, without food or 
water, these poor fellows remained two days and nights ! 
They had not even straw on which to sleep ! 

At the end of this time it coming to the ears of the Friar in 
charge of the mission, that one of them was dying of hunger 
and thirst, he repaired to the prison and inquired of Pinto, the 
corporal of the guard, if such were the fact ! The miniature 
monster answered, that he did not know. The Friar replied, 
" are you an officer and a Catholic, and do not know the state 
of your prisoners ! You, sir, are an officer of to-day, and 
should not be one to-morrow." The good man entered 
the cell ; found one of the Englishmen speechless ; admin- 
istered baptism, and removed him to the house of a kind 
family, where I found him on my arrival ; still speechless and 
incapable of motion. The Friar extended his kindness to the 
other prisoners. He ordered Castro to furnish them food 
and water. But the villain, evading so far as he was able, 
gave them barely enough of each to tantalize them, until the 
arrival of the American in the Don Quixote; when that 
fleet, laying off the coast, commanded by such a man, charm- 
ed his benevolence and mercy into activity. From the first 
of May, therefore, they had food and water, and were per- 
mitt'ed to take the air and bathe daily. 

On the fourth, the American was permitted to see the prison- 
ers. They had been scrubbing themselves at the great tank ; 
and were allowed, at his suggestion, to take their dinner in the 
open air. They had evidently suffered exceedingly since 
they left Monterey ; for their countenances had lost the 
little C(jlor which the dungeons of that place had left them. 
Their hands looked skeleton-wise ; their eyes were deeply 
sunken in their sockets ; they tottered when they walked ! 
Poor men ! For no other fault than their Anglo-Saxon 
blood, they fared like felons ! They had a long voyage, and 
slavery in '.he mines of Mexico before them, and were sad 



114 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC 

They asked the American if he would lead them in an attack 
upon the guard. But he pointed out the hopelessness of such 
an attempt in their enfeebled condition, and comforted them 
with the reiterated assurance that he w^ould meet them at San 
Bias. 

While this conversation w^as going on their dinner ar- 
rived. The first course consisted of batter cakes, called 
tortillas, with a small quantity of boiled beef hock. A sad 
pittance, and of the meanest quality. But one of them told 
the American with much pleasantry, that it was an attempt 
to surprise him with the richness of their fare ! The next 
course was a soup. I stood by the kettle w^hile they dipped 
and ate it. As they approached the bottom of the vessel 
they hauled up two old cloths of the most filthy description, 
besides other things which it w^ould ill become me to name ! 
They ate no more ! Starvation itself lost its appetite at such 
a spectacle ! The American remonstrated with the officer in 
charge for allowing such baseness. The fellow promised. 
But why speak of a Spaniard's promise 1 It can be likened 
to nothing so well as his justice. Both are as unreliable to 
one in his power, as the thunder-cloud at night is, for light 
to him who treads on precipices ! 

As this w^as the last interview which we expected to have 
with the prisoners before they would leave California, it was 
suggested that they should write to their friends at home. To 
this they gladly assented. We therefore furnished them wHth 
implements for that purpose. But the jealous tyrants in 
charge saw fit to prohibit this last consolation of the doom- 
ed ! While, however, the villains were engaged in consulta- 
tion about it, I took their names and places of residence, and 
promised if they should be executed, or sent to the Mexican 
mines, to give their friends the sorrowful intelligence of their 
fate. 

We now took leave of them. As we shook them by the 
hand their tears flowed freely. One said, write to my sister 
m Maine 3 another, write to my mother in Boston ; another, 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 115 

write to my uncle in London, and he will inform my parents; 
another said write to my wife in *******. Her heart is al- 
ready broken by my abandonment. Another tried to speak 
of his home; but grief choked his utterance. Graham was 
himself agam. That hardy and high-toned energy of charac- 
v*r which nature had given him, seemed to rise over mis- 
fortune, as his corporeal powers decreased. He was greatly 
enfeebled by his sufferings, and thought he might die on the 
passage to San Bias. " But," said he, " I reckon these vil- 
lains will see me die ^Ike a man. And if I do die, I wish you 
to go to Tennessee ad Kentucky, and tell the boys of our 
sufferings. My bo es on the stake, their rifles will make 
spots on their vile carcases. Two hundred Tennessee rifle- 
men could take t e country ; and it's a mighty pity it should 
be held by a set .>£ vagabonds who don't regard the honor of 
God or the rights of men. I have been here now seven 
yejirs ; have always been a peaceable man, except when I took 
part with the Californians against the tyranny of Govern- 
ment officers sent up from Mexico. And now I am lassooed 
like a bear for slaughter or bondage, by these very men 
whose lives and property myself and friends saved. Well, 
Graham may Hve to prime a rifle again ! If he does, it will 
be in California ! Farewell to you. I hope we shall meet 
in Mexico." The old man brushed a tear from his weather- 
beaten generous face, and we left him. 

The American repeated his visit to the sick Englishman. 
He had neither ate, drank, nor spoken. His hmbs were en- 
tirely cold and motionless ; fast sinking. The ladies in at- 
tendance were very compassionate, and bestowed on him 
every kindness he was capable /of receiving. Yet how inhu- 
man the power which, calling itself a Government, authorises 
such murders ! The halter which swino-s at the biddino- of a 
civil tribunal, the axe which flashes along the grooves of the 
guillotine, have their horrors ; and the head picked up by 
the mob and shown while life yet speaks from the eyes, and 
the dying love of Freedom still clothes the countenance. 



116 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

sliocks human forbearance ! But to be killed by inches, to 
be sent to the arms of death by the long agonies of thirst and 
famine, for no crime save that of being an American or 
Briton, is a sacrifice at which malice itself in its soberer mo- 
ments shudders and turns pale. So was this man dying. He 
breathed heavily. One of Castro's officers came in, and re- 
marking that he was undoubtedly a feeble man, kissed his 
hand gallantly to the ladies and retired. 

The evening was spent with Mrs. J. A. Jones, the Califor- 
nian spouse of the former American Consul at the Hawaian 
Islands, and her sisters. A stroll, a i 'e-a-lete, and the sweet 
guitar ! The air was balmy ; the smiles ^'ere deeply sympathiz- 
ino" ; the laugh savored richly of the t arest impulses of the 
soul ; the music was the warm brea of the great living 
principle of the best affections. All bt ond was barbarism 
and wilderness ! The vast pampas, the unexplored streams, 
the unpruned forests, the growling hosts of beasts that war 
with hfe and gnaw each other's bones ; the roaring seas; the 
wild men, women and children, unlocated, homeless, — the 
untamed fields of earth and the deserts of the human heart lay 
outside ; within was our little company. Will the reader tarry 
here awhile and listen to tales of olden times ? They tell of 
heroic deeds, of martyrdoms, and glorious conquests. They 
will bring back the events of buried years; wdl show the deeds of 
those who acted here and died ; and as the scene moves on, 
this charming land, with all its countless beauties and its grey 
and noiseless wastes, will appear. 



CHAPTER VII. 

An Incomparable Wilderness— A Strange Period— Phrenzy — An InJiMi 
Fire — Gentlemen by the Grace of God versus Genllemen by the Grace of 
Pelf— A Sight of a Great Sea — The first Voyage around the Earth — A Sur- 
render — Victims— Fleet — Voyage — Another Voyage — Murder — Mas- 
sacre — Another Voyage — Shipwreck — Beaten to death in the surf — The 
Dead and their Requiem — Gathered at their Ancient Altars — A Return — 
Another Voyage — An Arrival from a Ten Years' tramp among the Sav- 
ages — An Expedition by Sea and Land — Death of the Discoverer of 
California. 

Any part of the earth with its forests, its native grasses, 
herbs, flowers, streams and animals, unmolested by the trans- 
forming powers of that race which derives a hvelihood from 
agriculture, commerce, and their attendant handicrafts, is a 
spectacle of great interest. The seasons as they come and 
go — the spring with its rich blossoms and leaves — the sum- 
mer w^Jth its fulness of vigor — the autumn w^ith its dropping 
fruits — and the winter, that Sabbath of the year, when na- 
ture rests from her toil — all bring to the old wilderness un- 
numbered charms. But who can portray them ? They are 
so closely grouped, so richly tinted, so mellow, so sacred and 
grand, that a long life is required to perceive them. And I 
often think, if we should study the ancient woods and tower- 
ing rocks, and the countless beauties among them, through 
all our days as we do in childhood, w^e should be drawn nearer 
to virtue and to God ! 

California is an mcomparable wilderness. It differs from 
that which overhung the Pilgrims of New England. That was 
a forest broken only by the streams and the beautiful lakes in 
which the Indian angled for his food. This is a wilderness 
of groves and hwiis, broken by deep and rich ravines, sepa- 



118 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

rated from each other by broad, and wild wastes. Along the 
ocean is a world of vegetable beauty ; on the sides of the 
mountains are the mightiest trees of the earth ; on the heights 
are the eternal snows, lighted by volcanic fires ! But this is not 
the place to describe the features of this remarkable country. I 
have said there is a tale of olden times connected with it and 
its people, which must first be given. A strange period in 
the history of man is that, in which the Californias became 
known to Europeans. The latter years of the fifteenth, and 
the first of the sixteenth century, embrace it. It is a barba- 
rous era of human energy — not the energy of well-directed 
reason — but of that recuperative force of human nature which 
for centuries bends under ignorance and inaction, and then, 
like some central spark, ignites the mass, and flows forth over 
every opposing obstacle. 

The attempt to take Palestine from the Infidels has called 
out the combating and rehgious faculties in conjunction. Vene- 
ration for the Church and its rites is the ruling idea ; the cross is 
transferred from the cathedral to the field of battle, and with so- 
lemn hymns to God the people of Europe march to their graves 
on the desecrated plains of Jerusalem. This religious battling 
has an end ; but its influence on the minds of the people has 
been immense. They have wrapped their faith around their 
lances ; turned from commerce, the subjugation of the soil, and 
general industry, to war upon opinions — to an unsettled state 
of fanatical vagabondism, which turns the world loose upon 
itself in a religious phrenzy that is forced to seek an outlet 
among the waves of the western seas. 

Half the solid land of the globe with its boundless forests, 
its Amazon and Mississippi Rivers, its mountain ranges, its 
unnumbered forms of animal life, its savage infidels — all its 
vastness, beauty and gold, catches the restless fancy of the age, 
and Columbus is among its sea-weed — sees the light of the 
Indian's evening fire, and invites the enthusiasm of the Old 
World to the New. It comes. It is love of wealth, power, 
and faith ! 




Pizarro. — P. 119. 




Cortes.—-'?. 1 19. 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIF ORNIAS 119 

Venice, Genoa and Florence are bringing overland, from 
the East Indies, so much wealth, that kings are tributary to 
them. The palaces of the merchant princes outvie those of 
(he cut-throats Royal by the Grace of God. And the lead- 
ing cord of events now is, to find a shorter route to the silks of 
Hindostan. For in this lies the possibility that these Grace 
of God gentlemen may rid themselves of their unpleasant 
dependence upon the coffers, navies and armies, of these free 
States. Portugal, Spain, France, England, enter the lists of 
this great Tournament of El Dorado. The prize sought to 
be wrested from the hand of Dame Fortune is, a water pas- 
sage through the American Continent, by which the ships of 
the discovering nation may reach the East Indies. Columbus, 
Balboa and Cortez on the part of Spain, seek it along the 
shores of the Gulf of Mexico ; but the Continent spreads 
itself an everywhere present barrier to their hopes. This 
Vasco Nunnez de Balboa in 1513 is in the Gulf of Uraba ; 
and an Indian chief called Panquiaca conducts him over 
the Cordilleras range of the Isthmus Darien, to Michae/mas 
Gulf on the Pacific. The Great Pacific Ocean is first seen 
by this man. His name is written among the heroes of those 
benighted years. It is dyed in the blood of many thousand 
slaughtered Indians. He leads Pizarro to the foul murder of 
the Incas! He opens the arteries of Guatimala ! In 1519, 
Fernando Magellano, in the service of Portugal, discovers 
the Strait which bears his name, sails across the South Paciiic, 
and touches at the Ladrone and Philippine islands. Among 
the latter group himself and many of his companions perish. 
Juan Sebastian del Cano succeeds to the command, traverses 
the Indian Ocean, doubles the Cape of Good Hope, and 
moors safely on his native shore. Two passages to the East 
Indies have now been discovered, and the earth for the first 
time circumnavigated in 1522. The Pacific has been seen at 
Darien, and ploughed in the Antarctic latitude. But its north- 
ern parts are yet unexplored. Hernando Cortez, the student 
of Salamanca, the magistrate of San Diego de Cuba, the 



1^0 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

murderer of Montezuma and Guatlmozin, the slender, five 
feet seven inch conqueror of Mexico, undertakes this. 

On the thirteenth of August, 1521, Mexico surrenders to 
Cortez, and the King of Mechoacan, whose dominions extend 
to the shores of the Pacific, also submits to this magistrate 
of San Diego. Men are sent to explore three different 
points ft)r a ship-yard on the coast of the Great South Sea ; 
forty Spaniards, carpenters, sawyers, and blacksmiths, are sent 
to the chosen port ; iron, anchors, cables, sails, rigging, pitch, 
oakum, bitumen, and other naval stores, sufficient to build t\vo 
brigantines, are borne by Indian slaves and a few mules, from 
Vera Cruz to Zacatula ; a distance of six hundred miles ! 

But misfortune is beginning to tread on the heel of Cortez' 
enterprise. These materials, soon after their arrival at Zaca 
tula, are consumed by fire. He has used all his private funds 
in the purchase ; but as his credit is still good, a thousand 
Indian backs, stout and subservient, are again gored and 
broken by similar burthens. And the mountain path-ways 
from Vera Cruz are a second time thronged with victims, 
dying under the bales of materials for building the magis- 
trate's brigantines. Cortez sees them rise from keel to top- 
^4ast, constructed with very sharp bows, and masts leaning 
iorward, carrying triangular sails j and although ill-shaped, 
they run near the wind. In 1524, this fleet sails under com- 
mand of one Christopher de Olid, on a voyage among the 
unseen waters of tlie North ! This expedition, however, re- 
sults in nothins: but wind and storm, and the return of the 
ships in a miserabb condition. 

Great minds in different ages have reposed belief in strange 
things. Caesar trusted in the entrails of birds; the British 
Parliament enacted laws against witchcraft ; and this Cortez, 
in 1524, believes in a nation of immense women, called Ama- 
zons, inhabiting a very large island whose shores are strewn 
with pearls and gold ! A sufficient variety of taste has hu- 
man credulity, to give it a keen appetite and capacious 
throat. Cortez determines to discover the habitation of these 



TRAVELS IN THE C 4 L I F R N I A S . 121 

large ladies. But in 1528 his fame falls into the hands of 
Spaniards who treat it with the same respect as they already 
have that of Columbus ; that is, begin to dig its grave. 

To avoid the vexations which the Viceroy of Mexico, and 
a few other envious men, are throwing around him to cripple 
his efforts, he sails to Spain and presents himself to his King. 
He is received at court with marked kindness, is made Mar- 
quis del Valle de Guaxaca, Captain General of New Spain 
and the provinces and coasts of the South Sea, discoverer 
and peopler of those coasts and of the island of pearls, gold 
and Amazons, with a grant of the twelfth part, for himself and 
heirs, of all the territory that he shall discover and conquer. 
These powers, privileges and honors fire anew the volcanic 
spirit of this five feet seven inch slender student of Salaman- 
ca. In 1530, therefore, after having agreed with his sove- 
reign to prosecute his discoveries in the South Seas at his 
own expense, he returns to Mexico; and finding the Audie-n- 
cia, the Council of Government, still inimical to him, deter- 
mines at once to undertake the manifold duties of his office. 

Accordingly in May, 1532, he appoints Diego Hortadc 
Mendoza, a relative of his, commander of two ships which he 
has built at Acapulco, and sends him on a cruise into the 
Pacific. The crew of one of these vessels mutinies and 
brings her back to Xalisco. The other, under the personal 
command of Mendoza, is never heard of after she leaves 
port. Misfortune never weakens Cortez' resolution. On 
advice of his kinsman's loss and the ill fate of his expedition, 
he proceeds to Tehuantepec, and superintends the building 
of tv7o other ships. These sail in 1534 for the fabled island 
of Amazons, under command of Hernando Grijalva and a 
cousin of Cortez, Diego Becera Mendoza. Grijalva pro- 
ceeds three hundred leagues to a desert island which he calls 
San Tomas, and returns. Ximenes, the pilot of the other, kills 
the commander, and having assumed the command, sails up 
the Gulf-coast of California as far as the bay of Santa Cruz. 
Here himself and twenty of his crew are destroyed by 



122 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

the Indians. After this event the sailors take the vessel 
down the coast of Mexico to a port called Chiametla. 

Ximenes' people, in the true spirit of the race to which 
they belong, represent the country in which their pilot has 
been killed, as fruitful and thickly peopled, and the sea around 
it, stored with great quantities of pearl beds. So that the mis- 
fortunes of former voyages only serve to arouse the uncon 
querable spirit of this magistrate of San Diego de Cuba, to 
%rther effort in search of the rich islands and countries in the 
'^orth Pacific. He accordingly gives public notice, that Her- 
nando Cortez, the conqueror of Mexico, Marquis del Valle, 
His Majesty's discoverer, &c. &c., designs to take command 
of a fleet for this purpose. Spaniards from all parts of the 
country enter his camp at Tehuantepec ; three Dew ships are 
launched, well supplied with stores for a long cruise, and sent 
northward to Chiametla ; thither Cortez goes, with a large 
body of priests, officers and soldiers, and several families, de- 
signing to settle in the territories he may discover ; the ship 
of Ximenes, lying at Chiametla, empty and plundered, is fitted 
up as the fourth vessel of this little squadron ; and Cortez and 
a part of his followers sail into the unknown north ; enter 
the bay where Ximines was killed ; and call it Santa Cruz, 
Bahia de la Paz. 

Having landed his people and stores at this place, he sends 
his ships back to Chiametla for a part of the stores and peo- 
ple which have been left. But tempests fall upon them, and 
contrary winds so thwart them, that only one ever returns 
to La Paz. Their stores and provisions consequently wane 
fast ; the country around is desolate and barren ; death gnashes 
his teeth upon them, and starvation walks a ghastly image 
through their pallid ranks ; but Cortez sees a difficulty only to 
conquer it. He immediately puts to sea in his only remaining 
ship ; crosses the gulf ; coasts along its eastern shore for the 
space of fifty leagues, amid infinite dangers from rocks, currents 
and tempests ; finds his lost ships stranded on the coast of 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 123 

Senora^ and the bodies of his companions rotting and beating 
among the breakers ! A sad end to those men was that ! A 
dolorous termination to Cortez' hopes of discovery ! and dread- 
ful to the people of La Paz, on a heated and desolate shore, 
starving and thirsting, the living eating the dead and drinking 
their blood ! On his return he finds the few wretched ones 
who yet live, mad with hunger ! They shout with wild ma- 
niac joy, and rush into the surf! They try to swim to the 
ship for food and are cast back upon the shore by the surges ! 
Many perish in the angry waters ! Cortez lands and gives 
them food in sparing quantities. But the tides of life have 
been ebbing too long ! Their dying energies are overtaxed ! 
They die by twenties and are buried among the brambles with 
the holy water sprinkled on them for a coffin and winding 
sheet ! The rude cross of wood stands over each one's grave, 
the symbol of faith and life to come ! And now the deep de- 
sert, red and toneless, hears their requiem, in the clanking 
cable of Cortez's ship, as the wailing crew heave the anchor, 
and depart from the eastern shore of Lower California ! 

Meantime report at Mexico says that the murderer of Gua- 
timozin and Montezuma has perished in the western seas, 
Cortez is the name of a corse bloated and sunken in their 
depths. The caciques of the fallen dynasty shout for glad- 
ness among the mountains of Mexico. Their enslaver no 
longer breathes. The great relentless heart of Cortez is 
rotting. His fiery eye has ceased to burn. His unconquera- 
ble soul no longer hovers over their native vales, and the 
sound of his terrible voice is for ever hushed. This belief 
rouses their lost courage. They gather around their ancient 
altars. The holy Sun is besought to blight their oppressors 
with his fervent fires, and send hfe, love, and true hearty 
among his fallen children. They worship in their ancient 
temples, and vow that they will be free. 

The Marchioness Donna Juanna de Zunniga, daughter of 
the Count de Aguilar and cousin to the Duke de Bejan, has 
loved the student of Salamanca, and become his second wife 



124 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

And the love of this woraan still burns ardently, and alone, 
for her absent husband. The Audiencia at Mexico are Span- 
iards, and as such can lay aside their jealousy of Cortez 
when his prowess is required to save their necks. A virtue 
this which never fails to grow where Castilian blood fertilizes 
the human frame. The Caciques now line the mountain sides 
with their followers ; the war-cry bounds across the vale of 
the city. " Cortez is dead, and we can be free !" is sung on 
all the heights from the Gulf to the Pacific. That Audiencia 
now loves Cortez. They condole with his wife on her pro- 
bable loss, and allow her to send a ship with letters from her- 
self urging his return. The Caciques press towards their holy 
city, and its sacred lakes. The avenging passions of enslaved 
millions growl through the land, and the clash of savage 
arms, their dancings and songs, mingle in one direful din on 
the ear of the Viceroy. He sends entreaties that Cortez will 
return and save the country. These messages from the Vice- 
roy and his wife reach him on the coast of Senora ; he sails 
back to La Paz ; leaves Francisco de Ulloa in charge of a 
part of his people ; returns to Acapulco ; goes to Quahuna- 
huac to meet his anxious wife ; and thence proceeds to Mexi- 
co. The poor Indians learn that the murderer of their 
Emperor lives ! They lay down their arms, and every hope 
of freedom. 

Ulloa has followed his master, and awaits his orders at 
Acapulco. In May, 1537, he is again ordered to sea with 
three ships, the Santa Agueda, La Trinidad, and Santo Tor- 
res. He touches at Santiago de Buena Esperanza ; at Guay- 
abal ; crosses over to California, and follows the coast to the 
head of the Gulf. Along this coast he sees man} volcanoes, 
bare mountains, and barren valleys. Whales abound in the 
sea ; and on the land he finds large, heavy, and very crooked 
sheep's horns; also naked Indians taking fish with hooks 
made of wood, bone, and tortoise-shell, who wear bright 
shells about the neck, and use the maws of sea-wolves for 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 125 

drinking vessels ! After a year's cruising in the Gulf, or Ma 
de Cortez, Ulloa returns to Acapulco. 

About this time Alvar Nunnez Cabeza de Vaca and his 
three companions, Castello, Dorontes, and a negro called Es- 
tevanico, arrive at Mexico. They are the only survivors of 
three hundred Spaniards who landed in Florida with Pamfilo de 
Narvaez, ten years before, with the intention of conquering 
that country. They have been defeated and driven from Flo- 
rida, and having wandered on foot though Louisiana, Texas, 
and other parts inhabited by savages, they appear among 
their countrymen naked, and so changed in their personal ap- 
pearance, that their language is almost the only evidence of 
their origin. This Alvar Nunnez Cabeza de Vaca relates 
such surprising tales of his adventures, and the gold, pearls, 
&c., seen in the north, as to kindle anew the avarice of the 
Spaniards. The excitement, however, does not reach its 
height until the return of a monk who has travelled over 
those countries with the design of Christianizing the natives. 
This man has seen rich countries covered with grains, fruits, 
countless herds of black cattle, and mountains shining with 
the precious metals. 

The Viceroy and Cortez are enemies. They both conceive 
the design of penetrating these countries. But the 
former induces the creditors of the latter to vex him with le- 
gal proceedings while he himself dispatches an expedition by 
sea and another by land, to discover and conquer these won- 
der-born regions. The land force is led by Francisco Vas- 
quez Coronado. He marches at the head of one thousand 
chosen men; and after many hardships reaches his destination, m 
52^ N. Lat., three hundred leagues north of Culiacan, Cinaloa, 
and Valle de Senora. He finds a province here composed of 
seven towns in which are about four hundred men and a pro- 
portionate number of women and children. The largest has 
two hundred houses of earth and rough wood. Some are four 
and five stories high. The entrance to each floor is from the 



126 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC 

outside by means of stairs, which, for security, are removed at 
night. 

The country not being strewn with gold and gems, how- 
ever, as the soldiers anticipated, they propose to return. But 
Coronado sends a body of them three hundred leagues farther 
' north, in search of two cities, called Quivira and Axa. They 
find only a rich country abounding in fruit, cattle and wild 
beasts. Meeting with nothing, therefore, in all these regions 
to gratify their cupidity during a search of three years, they 
return to Mexico and report to that effect. This expedition 
has traversed the interior of Upper California. The arma- 
ment, meantime, has sailed to the place of rendezvous on the 
Pacific coast of Oregon, and awaited in idleness the arrival 
of the land expedition. But as Grijalva was spending his time 
in searching for a land of gold, and the fabled cities of 
Quivira and Axa, instead of seeking his countrymen at the 
appointed place, the commander of the fleet found it conve- 
nient to return to Mexico. He is soon after disgraced and dies 
of chagrin. Thus terminate the Viceroy's expeditions ! 

The friends of Cortez bruit this failure of his enemy to de- 
fraud their chief of his rights. But the star of that great 
man is sinking ; and they cannot stay its fall. Thwarted and 
overreached by his enemies, and finding the mind of his sove- 
reign poisoned by their machinations, he resolves to present 
himself again at Court and demand his rights. Accordinp^ly, 
in 1540, he embarks with his two sons for Spain ; attends the 
King in his unfortunate expedition to Algiers ; and after 
spending seven years in vain efforts to regain the favor of his 
monarch, expires of grief and disappointment at Castillya de 
la Cuesta, while on his way to meet his daughter at Cadiz. 
Thus dies the conqueror of Mexico and discoverer of 
California ! 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Three hundred years ago— The Capitana, Almiranta, Frigate and Bara« 
Longo— A rani Bird— Mazatlan— A Fog and a Reef— San Barrabe— 
Laying down Arms— Rich Shores— Game— Nature's Salt Works- 
Departure— A Northwester— A Separation— Signal Fires— A Desert- 
Fish- A Saline Lake — Tracts and a Meeting— An Island— A Precious 
Mountain— Amber— Cerros-Circunma vigating— San Hypolito— Up 
the Coast— A Gale— Out of sight— Comes to Anchor— Bahia San 
Francisco of the South— Native Cattle—Indian Courtesy— A Meeting— 
Another Bay— A Battle— Weighs— San Diego— Savages— Graves- 
Santa Catarina— Its Inhabitants and Customs— Its Productions— A 
Temple— A line of Islands— His Majesty and Hospitality— A Blow- 
Four Canoes— Rio San Carmelo— Monterey in 1G02— Death— The Al- 
miranta dispatched to Mexico— A Horrid Disease— The Country— Its 
People and Animals— Bahia San Francisco of the North— Cape Men- 
docino— Death ! Death !— Retwn to Mazatlan— Death— To Acapulcc 
-Lamentations ! ! 

In 1542 the Viceroy of Mexico sends Juan Rodriguez Ca- 
brillo from the Port of Navidad with two ships, on a voyage 
of discovery up the coast of Cahfornia. He touches at 
Santa Cruz, la Magdalena, Cape del Enganno in lat. 32^, 
La Cruz in 33", de la Galera in 36i^ the Bay of San Fran- 
cisco in about 37o 40', and sees a large Cape, in lat. 40'', 
which he calls Mendocino, in honor of the Viceroy. In March, 
1543, he reaches 44^' without making any additional discover- 
ies of importance. At this time, the cold being very intense, 
he turns his ship homeward and enters the harbor of Navidad 
on the 14th of April, 1545. No other expeditions are under- 
taken to California, until 1596 ; when Count Monterey, the 
reigning Viceroy, receives an order from Philip II. for mak- 
ing discoveries and settlements in California. In obedience 
to this order, Sebastian Viscayno is appointed Captain-general 



128 SCENE? IN THE P A C .F I C . 

of the Expedition, and Capt. Toribio Gomez admiral. Botb 
are persons of great worth, enterprise and skill. Two ships, 
the Capitana and Almiranta, are purchased, and a frigate built 
expressly for this service. There is besides a barco longo for 
surveying creeks and bays, and such other services as cannot 
be performed with deeper keels. Three barefooted Carmel- 
ites, Padre Andrez de la Assumpcion, Padre Antonio de la 
Ascencion, and Padre Tomas de Aquino, accompany the ex- 
pedition in the capacity of spiritual advisers ; and Capt. Alon- 
zo Estevan Peguero and Ensign Gaspar de Alarcon, as coun- 
sellors in relation to the proceedings of the expedition. Capt. 
Geronimo Martin is likewise attached to it as draughtsman of 
the coasts, islands, and harbors which shall be discovered. 
This body of officers are men of enterprise and skill ; and sup- 
ported by the best seamen in Spanish America, great results 
are anticipated from the voyage ! 

On the 5th of May, 1602, the fleet sails from Acapulco. 
Strong head winds and currents buffet them for many days ; 
but on the 19th of May, they reach Puerta La Navidad, and 
put in to obtain ballast and repair the Capitana. All which 
being dispatched with the utmost speed, they proceed on their 
voyage and reach Cape Corrientes on the 26th of May. 
Having surveyed this coast, and the adjacent country, they 
sail northward to the Islands of Mazatlan. These they reach 
on the 22d of June. They are two in number, lying near 
each other, and making a fine roadstead between them and 
the main shore. In this the Capitana and Almiranta come to 
anchor. The frigate having been separated from them soon 
after leaving Navidad, they fear she is lost ; but they are glad 
to find her lying in a river which empties into this roadstead. 
The officers and priests visit one of the islands. Great num- 
bers of sea birds, about the size of a goose, having a bill 
nearly half a yard in length, legs resembling those of the 
stork, and a large crop in which they carry small fish to their 
young, cover the beach ; deer and wild goats abound inland. 
These islands lie at the entrance of the Gulf of California. 



1RAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 129 

Having passed a part of the day among them, they steer 
across the mouth of the Gulf, and on the 9th of July make 
Cape San Lucas. As they stand in, a heavy fog falls upon 
them, and completely conceals the shore. For a day and a 
half they lie thus enveloped, out of sight of each other, and 
in great danger. At length it clears up a little, and the Al- 
miranta discovers that she is within twenty-five fathoms of a 
reef of rocks, on which she barely escapes being dashed in 
pieces. Having borne away from so fearful a doom, they en- 
ter a bay where they rejoice to find the frigate already an- 
chored. This is the day of San Barnabe, and accordingly 
the harbor is named in honor of that saint. 

Their attention is soon attracted to the natives, who, armed 
with bows, arrows, and spears, hne the shore, shouting 
fiercely, and throwing sand in the air. General Viscayno 
lands with twelve soldiers, the priests and oflficers. But the 
natives are so intimidated by the lighted matches and arque- 
buses that they are near losing all communication with them, 
when Padre Antonio de la Ascencion, advancing alone, mak- 
mg signs of peace and friendship, induces them to stop, em- 
braces them all kindly, and gives assurance that no harm is 
intended them. They now lay down their arms, and intimate 
that the soldiers must do the same before they will advance. 
The Padre conveys this wish to his friends, and calls a little 
negro boy to bring a basket of biscuit to distribute among 
them. At sight of the negro they are greatly pleased, and 
tell him, by signs, that there is a village of people like him- 
self not far thence, with whom they are on friendly terms. 
Having received beads and other presents, they retire to their 
rancherias, or settlements, much pleased, though apparently 
not entirely free from apprehension. After this, the general 
and others walk about to examine the shore. Not far distant 
they observe a pond of clear water, on the borders of which 
lie great quantities of sardine and pilchard, which have been 
thrown up by the breakers. The next day they visit another 



SCENES IN THE PACIFIC 



Spot, where they find the shore for some distance strewn with 
pearl oysters of the most brilliant and various hues. 

The little fleet lies in this bay several days to repair, and 
take in wood and water. The boats, meantime, are kept 
constantly abroad taking fish. Soles, lobsters, pearl oysters, 
&c., are procured. The quail, wood-pigeon, rabbits, hares, 
deer, lions, tigers, are seen on the hills; various kinds of trees, 
as the pitahaya, fig, lentisk, and a great variety of plum 
shrubs, which, instead of gum, emit a very fragrant odor, 
grow in the valleys. In the vicinity of the anchorage is a 
low tract of ground subject to be inundated by the sea, dur- 
mg the prevalence of the southwesterly winds. Its shape is 
such that when the waves retire a large quantity of water is 
left, which evaporates and leaves a deposit of fine white salt. 
The Indians of this region go entirely naked. They are, 
however, extremely fond of ornamenting their hair, and of 
painting their bodies in black and white stripes. 

Having finished the repairs about the time the moon 
changes, and having by the distribution of goods produced a 
"avorable state of feeling among the soldiers, the Captain-' 
General, about the first of July, orders the squadron to put 
to sea. But they run only three leagues, when a northwest- 
erly wind springs up, which soon increases to such a gale 
that they are compelled to put back into the bay of San 
Barnabe. Three times they stand out, and as often are com- 
pelled to return. At last they determine to leave the barco 
longo, which the Capitana has towed, much to the detriment 
of her progress, and on the 5th of July, for the fourth time, 
attempt to gain the open sea. The Almiranta and Capitana 
with great difficulty make some headway against the tem- 
pest. But the frigate is obliged to part company, and run in 
under the land. When the gale abates, the commander is 
desirous of uniting with the frigate, and for this purpose lays 
in for the shore. On the 8th they make land under the 
blow of some lofty hills, where they are becalmed. This 
range of highlands they call Sierra del Enfado, or Mount 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS 131 

Tedious. On the 16th a breeze fills their sails, and the ships 
stand away for the harbor de la Magdalena. Here they are 
enveloped in a fog so dense that a man cannot be seen at 
six paces. The Capitana runs into the harbor, but the Almi- 
ranta is compelled to turn her prow seaward. When the 
fog clears up, therefore, they have lost sight of each other. 
The people of the Capitana mount the hills which skirt the 
bai^bor, and build signal fires on the heights. These are seen 
by the people of the Almiranta ; bat mistaking them for the 
fires of the Indians, continue to stand off. The Captain-Gene- 
ral now becomes very anxious for the missing ship and fri 
gate ; and, as soon as the gale abates, sails in quest of them. 
He first explores the bay of San Jago ; but not finding them 
there, proceeds to Magdalena, and, to the joy of all, anchors 
near the frigate. 

They weigh anchor again on Sunday mornina; the 28th 
of July, and that they may not be parted again, the Capitana 
takes the frifjate in tow. A ojale which comes on from the 
northwest after they leave the harbor, prevents them from 
'standing as far from the shore as they desire. But they bear 
away along the coast, and soon after heave in sight of a bay 
which seems to be formed by the mouth of a river. This 
the frigate is sent to survey. But ascertaining the mouth to 
be crossed by a line of impassable breakers, they continue 
their voyage. On the eighth of August they discover another 
bay. Being now very much in want of wood, water, and 
fresh food, some soldiers are sent on shore to search for them. 
The country, however, is perfectly barren and destitute of all. 
An island is in sight which promises the required aid. It 
proves to be small, with a soil of gravel and sand, and 
thronged with gulls. The creeks are frequented with im- 
mense numbers of sea wolves, and a great variety of fish. 
The boat is sent out with fishing tackle, &c., and in an hour 
two men take a supply for both vessels. 

Transfiguration day is passed here ; and Padre Antonio 
celebrates mass. After service, the sergeant and some soldiers 



132 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

being;' out in search of water and wood, find a lake filled with 
very good salt. Near it are some pits containing brackish 
water. Around these they discover innumerable foot prints, 
and other signs which, to their inexpressible joy, clearly in- 
dicate that the crew of the Almiranta have been here before 
them ! They therefore take a small supply of this miserable 
water, and sail for the island of Cerros in search of their com- 
Danions. On their way they pass a very high barren moun- 
tain upon the main coast, showing every variety of color, on a 
bright shining surface. It is affirmed, by a sailor from Peru, 
to be a bed of silver and gold ! They are very desirous to 
ascertain if this opinion be true ; but the wind will not per- 
mit them to land. 

They soon after enter a good harbor, which they name San 
Bartholome. Here the General sends Ensign Alarcon and 
some soldiers ashore for water. The only thing they find 
worthy of notice is a kind of resin, or gum, which being 
rathpr offensive to the smell, they do not think worth taking 
to the ship. They believe it to be amber, and report enough 
of it to load a large ship. As no w^ater is to be found on ' 
this barren shore, they continue their search for the lost 
vessel. 

On the last day of August they come to anchor at the island 
of Cerros. While they are furling their sails, Padre Tomas 
de Aquino discovers the Almiranta approaching them. The 
.most extravagant joy is manifested on board both ships at 
this meeting. Capt. Viscayno learns that she has been lying 
m a fine harbor since the nineteenth ; that she has just weigh- 
ed for the purpose of circumnavigating the island in search 
of the Capitana, and that supplies of wood, water, salt, &c., 
may be had at her last mooring ground. Accordingly, the 
little fleet runs into the Almiranta's old harbor. Here the 
General orders his men to pitch a tent for the Padres, and 
take in supplies. But the water is found so remote, that the 
General sends Ensign Juan Francisco and Sergeant Miguel de 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 133 

Legar with twelve soldiers, over the island, to see if there be 
not some spring or stream more accessible. 

After a long seardi they report the discovery of a rivulet 
about two leagues distant. Everything is now ordered on 
board and the fleet proceeds at once to the mouth of the 
stream. While they are taking in water, the General orders 
the frigate to make the circuit of the island. On their return, 
the cosmographer reports it to be about thirty leagues in cir- 
cumference, to have high mountains covered with cedar and 
pine, and to be inhabited by savages, who answered all their 
signs of peace with the most threatening gestures. On the 
main coast a large bay was observed, which seemed to run 
far inland. All the ships of the fleet being supplied with 
water, they set sail on the ninth of September. Their course 
is northerly, towards the main shore. They make it on the 
eleventh, and discover a fine bay, which they call San Hypo- 
lito. Anchors are dropped and preparations made for sur- 
veys. For this purpose the General orders some soldiers 
ashore under Capt. Peguero and Ensign Alarcon. The coun- 
try is found very beautiful. A broad and well-beaten road 
leads inland from the coast to a large hut covered with palm- 
•eaves, capable of containing fifty persons. While returning 
to the ship they take a great quantity of the best fish, on 
which all hands feast sumptuously. Thus fed, and joyful that 
they have found so desirable a country, they raise anchors 
and stand up the coast. 

As they sail along they see many large fires, which they 
deem an indication that Indian villages are numerous. But 
they have proceeded a few leagues only, when a violent gale 
springs up from the northwest, which compels them to run in 
under some lofty hills bordering the sea. To the southeast 
of this anchorage is seen a line of white cliffs on which there 
appear to be a great number of Indians. The General, there- 
fore, orders the frigate in shore with the cosmographer to take 
a chart of the coast and ascertain the condition of the natives. 
On coming in close 'onder the heights she is becalmed at such 



134 SCENES IN THE PACIFfC 

a distance from the shore that they cannot land. The sea, 
meanwhile, running very high outside, obliges the ships to lie to 
for twenty-four hours, during which time the frigate drifts out 
of sight and the Almiranta is near foundering. In the morn- 
ing they endeavor to continue their voyage. But the wind 
increases till evening, when a thick fog envelopes earth, sea, 
and ships. The Almiranta being in much jeopardy from the in- 
juries received the previous night, the General determines to 
look for some harbor where they may be secure against the 
heavy storm presaged by the fog. He finds none; but much to 
their surprise, the following day opens clear, and with a gentle 
breeze, which carries them off the Mesas, near which the frigate 
left them. TI:e promises of fair weather, however, prove very 
deceitful ; for before night a gale, more violent than any they 
have experienced, and accompanied by a thick fog, overtakes 
them. The ships lie to all night under reefed mainsails ; but 
before morning they lose sight of each other. 

The General now makes every effort to fall in with the 
Almiranta ; and keeping close in shore for this pur}X)se, very 
unexpectedly meets the frigate. But as he gets no tidings of 
the ship, his fears for her safety are not lessened. He there- 
fore puts into a fine harbor which they have discovered north- 
west of Cape Enganno, and there awaits her. He believes 
that, if still in a sailing condition, she must, by pursuing her 
instructions in regard to her course, necessarily pass near the 
mouth of this bay. They call this harbor Bahia de San Fran- 
cisco. In a rancheria near the anchorage they find a species 
of onions. Goats' horns, also, are strewn over the ground. 
The surrounding country is level, fertile, and very beautiful. 
The plains are fed by large herds of cattle and deer. The 
crew of the frigate point out an island a little north of the 
anchorage which they call San Geronimo ; and the Captain- 
General orders some of the seamen ashore to examine it. It 
proves to be heavily wooded, and frequented by immense Hocks 
of birds. Its shoals abound in the finest cod and other fish 
Of these they t^ke a supply for all the ships. Beyond the 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORN AS 135 

island they discover a large bay into which a considerable 
creek empties itself with a strong current.. The frigate goes 
in to survey it. They observe great numbers of naked Indi- 
ans fishing in the creek, who approach the Spaniards with the 
liveliest marks of joy, offer them the best of their fish, and 
show them several wells of pure fresh water. When these 
things are reported to Captain Viscayno, he orders a tent to 
be pitched for the celebration of mass, and preparations made 
to lie here till the Almiranta comes up, or all hope of her is lost. 

They take in wood and water. Every morning the Indi- 
ans bring them" a supply of fish for the day, and pay such 
deference to the Spaniards, that they never visit the rancherias 
in the neighborhood, without first soliciting the permission 
of the General and the Padres. The Spaniards return their 
courtesy with trifling presents, which enlist their wonder and 
admiration so deeply, that immense numbers of Indian men, 
and women with two infants each, flock from the neighboring 
rancherias ; pronounce Spanish words after the soldiers ; 
eat with them ; and in other ways show a disposition to culti- 
vate the most friendly and intimate acquaintance. The fe- 
males are clad in skins, and show much propriety of conduct. 
These Indians carry on a considerable trade with their inland 
neighbors by furnishing them with fish, and receiving in re- 
turn net purses, curiously wrought, and a root called mexcalli 
or maguey, boiled and prepared as a conserve. Of both 
these articles they give great quantities to the Spaniards 
in return for the beads and other trifles. They in- 
form their visitors that up in the country there are a great 
many people who wear clothes and beads, and have fire-arms. 
They are supposed to refer to Onate's land expedition from 
Mexico. 

Having now abandoned all hope of the Almiranta, it being 
twenty-eight days since she parted from them, the General, 
on the twenty-fourth of October, stands out to sea. Just as 
he leaves the bay, to his great astonishment and joy, the 
long absent ship is seen approaching. 



136 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

Being now all united again, the General gives orders ♦ 
continue the voyage, and run into the first harbor discovered. 
They soon see a large bay, which the tender is ordered to ex • 
plore. It is well sheltered from the northwest winds ; but 
as its shores are lined with great numbers of warlike Indians 
instead of landing they proceed up the coast. A north 
wester, however, soon obliges them to put back, and come to 
anchor. This being the anniversary of St. Simon and St 
Jude, they give the name of both saints to the bay. The next 
morning Captain Peguero and Ensign Alarcon are sent ashore 
with some soldiers to look for wood and fresh water. Find- 
ing none of the latter, they dig some wells in a moist spot 
overgrown with sedge and flags. While doing this, the 
Indians seem very brisk and bold; but do not molest the 
Spaniards till some presents are offered them. Construing 
this act into a sign of fear on the part of their visitors, they 
at once become impudent, attempt to steal, and even go so 
far as to try to take one of the boats from the boys who are 
left in charge of it. To deter them from further violence, one 
of the soldiers, as they are going off to the ship, fires his 
piece in the air. But the Indians finding no one hurt, grow 
more insolent than ever ; and the next day when a small party 
goes on shore to obtain water, they become so very trouble- 
some that two soldiers who have their matches lighted, order 
them to stand back. But this only increases their audacity. 
One of them throws his bow over the head of' a soldier. The 
pilot draws his sabre, and severs it. They now draw up in 
form, and place their arrows on their bow-strings. The 
soldiers, who have lighted matches, are ordered to fire upon 
them ! In a moment six Indians lie bleeding upon the 
sand! Their companions snatch them up and bear them 
away ! 

The news of this occurrence spreads like the wind among 
the neighboring rancherias, and in a short time two hundred 
Indians painted fiercely, wearing plumes upon their heads, 
and armed with bows and arrows, rush down to attack the 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 137 

Spaniards. The Ensign, on seeing them, orders his men to 
make ready The Indians, however, do not rehsh the ap- 
pearance of the arquebuses, and remain at a distance, talk- 
ing and gesticulating in the most earnest manner. At length 
they send one of their number with a little dog, in token cf 
their desire to make peace. The man, while making the treaty, 
eyes the arquebuses very keenly, and signifies that four of his 
people are already deceased, and others dying of their wounds ; 
and in token of their sincere wish not to hear from these gods 
of fire again, he makes a number of presents to the soldiers 
who bear them, and retires. 

The squadron leaves the bay on Wednesday the first of 
November. Continuing along the coast, they come to the 
mouth of a very large bay, sheltered on all sides, except the 
sea-ward one, by lofty mountains. It is protected at the 
entrance by two islands, which they call Todos Santos. The 
frigate and the Almiranta run in to make surveys. But the 
Capitana standing off, and night approaching, they dread 
another separation so much that they put out and rejoin the 
General. The next morning preparations are made to enter 
it again, for a more deliberate examination. But a favorable 
breeze springing up, they conclude to leave it for their re- 
turn, and continue the voyage. 

On the fifth of November they fall in with four islands, 
which they call Coronadas. On the tenth they enter the fa- 
mous harbor of San Diego. The day after their arrival, En- 
sign Alarcon, Captain Peguero and eight soldiers are sent out 
to explore. They first direct their steps to a heavy forest 
which lies on the northwest side of the bay. This is ascer- 
tained to be about three leag-ues in width and half a one in 
breadth. The trees are chiefly oaks, with an undergrowth of 
fragrant shrubs. Obtaining a fine view of the bay from the 
heights, they ascertain it to be spacious, land-locked, and 
every way desirable ; and returning to the ships, report such 
to be its character. This result being deemed satisfactory by 
the jreneral, he orders a tent pitched on shore for the celebra* 



i38 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC 

tion of mass, and preparation to be made for repairing the 
ships. One part of the crews therefore is assigned to clean 
and tallow the hulls, another to fill the water casks, and 
another to procure wood and keep guard. 

One day when each department is employed at its appoint- 
ed task, a sentinel posted in the forest sees a large ^body of 
Indians coming along the shore, naked, painted with red and 
white colors, and armed with bows and arrows. In order if 
possible, to avoid bloodshed, the General desires Padre Anto- 
nio to go and offer them peace. He is accompanied by En- 
sign Juan Francisco and six soldiers. Signs of peace being 
made with a bit of white linen, the Indians immediately de- 
liver their arms. The Padre embraces them all affectionate- 
ly ; and thus the best understanding is at once established. 
But observing so large a number of persons on board the 
ships, they retire in much apprehension ; and after consulting 
some time together, send two of their women alone to the 
tent. They approach with a timid air ; but being kindly re- 
ceived and presented w^ith beads, biscuit, &c., they return and 
make such a report to their people as soon brings the whole 
troop down to the water side. They are generally naked ; 
their bodies striped with white and black paint ; and their 
heads loaded with feathers. Their light paint seems to the 
voyagers, to be compounded of silver and other materials ; 
and on being asked what it is, they give the Spaniards a piece 
of metallic ore, saying, " it is made from this." They add 
that far up in the country there are many people, wearing 
beads and clothes like theirs, who make of this metal such 
ornaments as the General has on his purple velvet doublet. 

All desirable preparations being made, they sail from this 
beautiful bay of San Diego. While they have tarried in it, 
many of the crew who had been sick of the scurvy, have re- 
covered, and many others have died. It is a sorrowful occa- 
sion for those who still live, to part from the graves of their 
companions. They are interred on the borders of the magni- 
ficent forest northwest of the bay ; and the well known trees 



TRAVELS IN THE CAIIFORNIAS. 139 

which spread their branches over them, are discernible as 
they leave the land ! They scarcely clear the headlands of 
the harbor when a terrible northwester comes down upon 
them and changes their grief to fear. They see another voy- 
age begun which may terminate their own lives. But they 
keep their course and soon make another large bay. It is 
surrounded by a level, beautiful country, the inhabitants of 
which make fires on the heights along the coast, and by every 
sign in their power, invite the fleet to anchor. On approach- 
ing the land, however, they find no shelter from the northwest 
wind and stand out again to sea. A few leagues brings them 
to the large island of Santa Catarina. 

On the twenty-eighth they anchor in the bay. The in- 
habitants of Santa Catarina make the most noisy and earnest 
invitations for them to land. The GT^neral therefore orders 
Admiral Gomez, Capt. Peguero, and Ensign Alarcon, with 
twenty-four soldiers, to land on the island, and learn what the 
natives so earnestly desire. As soon as they reach the shore, 
they are surrounded by Indian men and women, who treat 
them with much kindness and propriety, and intimate that 
they have seen other Spaniards. When asked for w^ater they 
give it to the whites in a sort of bottle, made of rushes. 

They explore the island. It appears to be overgrown with 
savin and a species of briar. A tent is pitched for religious 
service, and Padre Tomas being ill. Padres Antonio and An- 
drez celebrate mass in presence of all the people. These In- 
dians spend much of their time in taking the many varieties 
of fish which abound in the bay. They have boats made of 
plank, capable of containing twenty persons. In these they 
carry long slender poles, to which harpoons of fish-bone are 
attached by long ropes. They strike with the harpoon and 
pay out rope till the fish is unable to run longer, and then if 
it be small, take it into the boat, or if large tow it ashore. 
They prize the sea-wolf most highly, as well on account of its 
fiesh, which th«y eat, as its skin, of which they make most ot 
their clothing. 



140 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

The women of this tribe are beautiful, modest, and ex- 
tremely well conducted. The children have fine complexions 
and are very amiable. They live in large huts, dispersed m 
rancherias, and have many convenient utensils made of rushes 
Their island abounds in a small root resembling the common 
potato, which is much prized as an article of food. On this 
island is a very large level enclosure, with an altar in the 
centre surrounded by a circular wall or partition of various 
colored feathers. Within this circle is a figure painted 
with a great variety of hues, and resembling the image by 
which the Indians of Mexico typify the devil. In its hands 
are the figures of the Sun and Moon. As the soldiers ap- 
proach this place they discover two very large crows within 
the enclosure, which rise on their coming up and alight on 
some rocks in the vicinity. Before the guide can remonstrate, 
their pieces are levelled and both birds fall. This act calls 
forth the bitterest lamentations from the Indian, who evidently 
regards them as sacred to his deity. Santa Catarina has se- 
veral fine harbors. It abounds in partridges, quails, rabbits, 
hare and deer. The people are very numerous, and exhibit 
much ingenuity in pilfering from their visitors. 

On the twenty-first of December the squadron leaves Santa 
Catarina to explore other islands which extend in a line nearly 
one hundred leagues up the coast. They are found to be inhab- 
ited by shrewd, active people, who trade much among them- 
selves and with their neighbors on the continent. Between 
a portion of them and the main land is a channel called the 
Canal de Santa Barbara. After exploring them, the fleet 
puts back to the continent, near the southern mouth of this 
channel. Before they reach the shore, however, four men 
come up to the Capitana, and row three times round her 
with the most astonishing swiftness, all the while chanting a 
kind of wild measure, similar to what the Indians of Mexico 
call almatote. By this the Spaniards understand that they 
have the Indian king or cacique on board. And so it proves ; 
for when the ceremony is over, his majesty steps on board the 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 1 

Capitana, and after walking three times around the quarter- 
deck, addresses himself in a long speech to the General and 
his officers. This being concluded, he adopts the more intel- 
ligible method of signs, to inform the Spaniards that the na- 
tives of Santa Catarina have sent his majesty advices of the' r 
visit, and have also spoken of their bravery, generosity, and 
the many presents made by them. All these things have 
kindled in his majesty a desire to cultivate the acquaintance 
of such illustrious persons ; and he backs his protestations of 
regard by the proposition to furnish them with everything 
they desire to eat and drink, and with the moderate supply 
of ten women each ! To prove his ability m this last offer, 
himself and son will remain as hostages while one of the sol- 
diers shall go on shore and ascertain the fact. As it is near 
night, however, the General very ungallantly declines his 
offer in behalf of himself and crew ; and his majesty at length 
departing, it is thought best to improve the fair wind then 
coming on, to prosecute the voyage. Setting all sail, there- 
fore, they progress rapidly till they nearly complete the sur- 
vey of the channel. The breeze leaves them opposite a 
cluster of islands, six in number, and about two leagues dis- 
tant from each other. The channel is ascertained to be about 
twenty- four leagues in length. The main coast is beautifully 
diversified with woodland and lawn, among which are several 
Indian villages. 

The following night the wind changes to northwest, and 
blows a tremendous gale for about sixty hours. The waters 
in the channel are lifted into mountains. The ships are driven 
almost uncontrolled among the islands. The greatest fear 
prevails that all will be lost. On the third day, however, the 
tempest abates. The Capitana and Almiranta are safe, and 
with the fair weather stand in for the continent. But the fri- 
gate is missing. The coast is skirted with lofty mountains 
which shelter some fine bays. From one of these, four ca- 
noes run out at the same moment, filled with savages bring- 
ing a large quantity of excellent sardines. These Indians 



142 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

are tall, fine-looking people. They cover tliemselves with 
goat-skins before entering the ships ; and as if sensible that 
language not understood would be of no use, they utter not 
a word, but express their thoughts by signs. Appearing very 
good-natured, and not disposed to pilfer, the Spaniards pre- 
sent to them some clothing and trinkets, with which they 
seem delighted. The next day, others coming on board 
urge the General to bring his ships to their country, 
in order that they may furnish him with plenty of fish and 
acorns. 

The frigate now rejoins the ships. She has been driv(^n 
among the islands, and experienced much hospitahty irom 
the natives. They now all get under way and stand nearer 
the shore in search of a harbor. The whole coast has been 
enveloped in a thick fog since the gale. A fair wind, how- 
ever, springing up, they run along the edge of the mist till the 
fourteenth of January, when the weather clearing, they find 
themselves under a ridge of high mouHtains, white at the 
top, and clothed with wood at the base. This range they 
call Sierra de Santa Lucia. Four leagues beyond it a river 
tumbles through a ledge of rocks into the sea. Its banks are 
covered with black and white poplar, willow, birch, and pine. 
This stream they call Rio San Carmelo. 

Two leagues farther on is a splendid harbor, between which 
and the mouth of the Carmelo, is a heavy pine wood, form- 
ing a cape. This is Punto de Pinos. In this harbor the 
squadron comes to anchor. The crews are very much 
reduced by sickness. The master and mate of the Al- 
miranta are both unable to leave their births ; the Captain- 
General and his mate are scarcely able to appear on deck ; a 
great many of the soldiers and boys are very sick; and 
sixteen have died since leaving Bahia de San Francisco. 
iJnder these circumstances it is resolved that tne Aimiranta 
shall be sent back under the command of Admiral Gomez, 
with the two pilots Pasqual and Balthazar, and all the sick; 
th t she shall take r sufficient number of sound men to mau 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 143 

her ; and that the rest shall go on board of the Capitana and 
frisfate. The General will send advices and a chart of all his 
discoveries, with a request that a reinforcement and supplies 
may be sent on early in the spring, to enable him to complete 
the survey of the coast and Gulf. 

In accordance with this arrangement the sick are put on 
board with great care; Padre Thomes de Aquino is assigned to 
accompany them, and on the twenty-ninth of January the 
Almiranta sets sail for Acapulco. The disease which preys 
so distressingly and fatally on the ships' crews is one of a very 
singular character. It is supposed to arise from the action of 
the cold winds of this region upon the relaxed constitutions 
of persons who come into it from warmer climates. The pa- 
tient is seized with violent pains throughout the system, which 
are soon followed by such extreme sensibility as forbids the 
slightest touch. This latter symptom is often so excruciating 
as to draw tears and groans from the stoutest men. Soon 
after this the surface becomes spotted with an eruption of a 
purple color, fine and sharp, feeling as if shot were inserted 
under the skin. These are followed by wales or hues of the 
same color, similar to those raised by the infliction of severe 
blows. They are about the width of two fingers ; appear 
first on the upper posterior portion of the thigh ; but soon 
spread themselves to the flexure of the knee. Wherever they 
appear the parts become rigid, and remain in the position in 
which they were first seized. The whole system now swells 
prodigiously, and the patient cannot be moved in any manner 
without suffering extreme torture. The disease finally ex- 
tends itself to all parts of the body, affecting particularly the 
shoulders, head and loins, and causing the most distressing 
pains in the kidneys. No relief can be obtained by change 
of position ; for the slightest motion is agony. In time the 
entire body is covered with ulcers so exceedingly sensitive 
that the pressure of the lightest bed covering is intolerable. 
At length the gums and jaws swell so that the mouth cannot 
be closed, and in man} cases the teeth droD out ! The vio- 



144 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

lence of the disease and the debility arising from it are such, 
that the patients frequently die while talking with their 
friends. Such is the dreadful pestilence that has swept the 
Captain-General's ranks, and now fills the Almiranta with 
groans, shrieks, prayers and curses ! 

While she is making her way back to Acapulco, the Capi- 
tana and frigate remain in the harbor of Monterey to take in 
wood and water, and explore the adjacent country. They 
find this finely diversified with lawns and groves of pine, firs, 
willow and poplars, with an abundant undergrowth of roses 
and fragrant shrubs. The open lands are also dotted with 
clear, pure lakes. The country is inhabited by a great vari- 
ety of wild beasts. A large boar, a species of horned cattle 
similar in size and shape to the buffalo, and another which, 
from the description, might be ancestor of the Americana 
Horribilis, are among the most remarkable. The voyagers 
give to this latter beast the size of the wolf, the form and 
horns of the stag, the skin and neck of the pelican, a tail half 
a yard in width and twice as long, and a cloven foot ! If it 
were a native, one might be led to speculate on the propin- 
quity of sulphur ! The country also abounds in deer, rabbits, 
hare, wild-cats, bustards, geese, ducks, pigeons, partridges, 
thrushes, sparrows, goldfinches, cranes, vultures, and another 
bird about the size of a turkey. On the seaboard are great 
numbers of gulls, cormorants, and other sea-fowl. The sea 
abounds in oysters, lobsters, crabs, sea-wolves, porpoises and 
whales. On the shores are many rancharias, the residents of 
which are an affable, generous people, living under some form 
of government. They use the native arms and subsist chiefly 
on fish and game. They seem fond of the Spaniards, and ex- 
press the most sincere sorrow at their intention to leave them 
But this is unavoidable. Both vessels run out of the harbor 
with a fair wind, on the fifth day of January, 1603, and stand 
away northward. 

Soon after passing the harbor of San Francisco, in Lat. 37^ 
45', they lose sight of each other, and the Capitana puts 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIF0RNIA8. 145 

back Into it, to await the arrival of the frigate, and also to 
survey the harbor and surrounding country. Another reason 
which the Captain-General has for wishing to stop here is to 
ascertain if there be any remains of the San Augustine, which 
had been driven ashore in 1595 with other vessels sent by 
the Government from the Philippine Islands, to survey the 
coast of California. The pilot of this squadron, Francisco 
Valanos, is acquainted with the country. He reports that 
they left a large cargo of wax and several chests of silk on 
the shore of this harbor. The General, therefore, runs the 
Capitana in, and anchors her behind a point of land called 
Punta de los Reyes. Becoming more anxious, however, for the 
fate of the frigate, he weighs the next day and runs out in 
search of her. A gentle northwester takes him up the coast 
within sight of Cape Mendocino, when a violent southwester, 
accompanied by sleet and a heavy sea, combined with the 
sickly state of the crew, induces him to seek a southerly 
harbor, in which to await the coming of spring and the rein- 
forcement from Mexico. 

They are now in a deplorable state. Six seamen only are 
able to be on deck. The officers are all sick. The Padres 
are scarcely able to administer the last rites to the dying ; 
and the few well ones are in dreadful consternation lest a 
storm come on, and the ship go down, for want of men to 
manage her. This determination of General Viscayno, 
therefore, raises the spirits of the healthy, and cheers the sick 
to their best efforts. When the wind changes so that the fog 
is dispersed, the pilots take an observation and find themselves 
in Lat. 42^, opposite a cape which runs eastwardly, and 
unites with a range of snowy mountains. This they call 
Cabo Blanco de Sebastian. The lost frigate runs very near 
the Capitana during the storm spoken of, but not being 
able to live in such a sea, she comes to anchor under a huge 
rock near Cape Mendocino. The pilot, Florez, when the 
storm abates, finds himself in Lat. 43° north, near Cape 
Blanco, and the mouth of a large river, whose banks are 



SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

covered with ash, willow, and other trees, w-ell known to the 
Spaniards. This river they are very desirous to explore, 
supposing it will conduct them to the great city reported by 
some Dutch mariners, to exist in this region ; or that it is the 
Strait of Anian, connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific ' 
The worthy pilot, however, has no chance of immortalizing 
himself by running through Smith's river to the city of Man- 
hattan. The current is against his course and his fame ; and 
he turns back with the determination of sailing to Acapulco 
without unnecessary delay. 

Meantime the Capitana is making all possible speed for 
La Paz, the harbor selected for her winter quarters. Oc- 
casionally, in her progress, she is visited by the trading canoes of 
the Indians. But nothing of moment befals her save that her 
crew grow more and more sickly, till she reaches a large island 
lying east of Santa Catarina, when only three persons beside 
the Captain-General are able to keep the deck. There is 
no conversation, no mirth on board ! Orders are conveyed in 
the quiet tone of conversation! The good Padre Andrez 
moves quietly about among the sick, the sole physician, 
nurse, priest and confessor of that gloomy hospital ! Now he 
bears medicine to the sick, and smoothes their pillow; now he 
administers the extreme unction, and anoints with holy oil 
the dying ; now he seals the lips and closes the eyes of the 
dead ! Prayers and groans alone are heard ; except when 
the burial service is hmriedly chanted, and the sudden plunge 
announces that some one is gone from among them for ever ! 

These terrible afflictions induce the General to abandon his 
intention of wintering at La Paz, and to run directly for the 
islands of Mazatlan, where he can procure better treatment 
for his dying crew. On the third of February he reaches the 
island of San Hilario and passes on to Cerros. Here he stops 
and obtains a supply of wood and water. On his departure, 
he leaves letters and signals for the frigate, in case she should 
touch there, and turns his prow for Cape San Lucas. He 
-eaches it on the fourteenth of February, and standing directly 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORiNlAS. 147 

mjross the mouth of the Gulf, enters a harbor near the island of 
Mazatlan on the seventeenth of the same month. An account 
of his condition being sent to the Viceroy, he determines to go 
in person to San Sebastian, a village about eight leagues from 
the harbor, for more immediate aid. He starts on the nine- 
teenth with five of his soldiers. But being utterly ignorant of 
the country, they take the wrong path, and wander two days in 
the wood without food or water. At length they fall into a 
broad beaten road, and while resting themselves by the way- 
side, a drove of mules, laden with provisions, comes along. 
These are going from Castile to Culiacan. The General 
learns from the muleteers that an old friend of his has become 
the Alcalde of the latter place, and immediately accepts their 
eiYer to convey himself and soldiers thither. 

At this town they are furnished with every comfort for 
themselves and those on board the ship. The poor seamen 
and Padres ! They are now reduced to the most lamentable 
condition ! Helpless, covered with ulcers, and unable to speak 
or eat ! Among other things that are sent them, is a kind of 
fruit which is considered a specific for this disease. It bears 
among the natives the cognomen, Xocohuiltzes. It resembles 
an apple. The leaves of the plant are exactly like those of 
the pineapple. The fruit grows in clusters. The rind or 
shell is yellow, and contains a pulp full of seeds. Its flavor 
is slightly tart. Its medical properties are such that it 
cleanses the mouth reduces the gums, fastens the teeth, heals 
the ulcers, purifies the blood, &c. Its virtues were acci- 
dentally discovered by an officer who was attending the burial 
of a victim to this frightful disease, from his own ship. He 
was himself somewhat infected, and passing under a tree, 
plucked and ate some of the fruit. In a few minutes he 
voided from the mouth a large quantity of purulent matter, 
mingled with blood. The soreness was at the same time much 
relieved, and the gums contracted upon the teeth so that they no 
longer rattled in his mouth. The poor seamen and soldiers 
have suffered most deplorably from this malady. By the use 



#CENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

of this fruit they begin to recover. Nor have the Padres been 
less afflicted. Such is the condition of their hands and mouths, 
that the crucifixes which they have held and often caressed, 
while the disease has been devouring their frames, are covered 
with a filthy gore ! Their couches, as well as those of the 
crew, are masses of putrid matter ! But now all are creep- 
ing on deck ; the ship and its appurtenances are cleansed ; 
their rotting frames begin to heal! On the 21st of March 
they are so far restored that the Capitana puts to sea, and 
after a pleasant sail of eight days, moors in the bay of Aca- 
pulco. When her anchor runs, and the pallid forms of tha 
few survivors are seen at the bulwarks, the horrid spectacle 
chills every tongue! The people gather on the shore in 
silence. But soon mothers call the names of those who, many 
months before, have been buried in the sea ! Fathers seek 
their sons whose graves the wolves have opened in the forest 
of San Diego ! Mothers, in the excess of maternal sorrow, 
demand of the Captain-General their offspring, who have fall- 
en, muscle and bone, morsel by morsel, before the terrific 
pestilence ! A few recognize among the living, the disfigured 
countenances of their friends, and rushing on board embrace 
them with loud lamentations ! The Almiranta rides hard by 
The frigate arrives in as deplorable a state as the Capitana. 
Her crew is reduced to a number scarcely sufficient to remem- 
ber the suflferings and the names of those who have died. 
Thus terminates the voyage of Viscayno. He has explored 
the whole Pacific coast of Upper and Lower California. 



CHAPTER IX. 

A.D. 1615— A.D. 1633-4— Don Pedro Portel de Cassanate— A.D. 1&47— 
A.D. 1666-7— A.D. 1683— Indians— A Battle— All busy— Orders 
from Mexico — Ships dispatched — A Garrison and Church — An Ex- 
pedition into the Interior — Despatches arrive — A Determination- 
Padre Kino — Padre Juan Maria Salva Tierra — The Jesuits — Powers 
granted — Salva Tierra goes to California — The Resurrection — Inso- 
lence — An Attack— A Repulse— A General Onset— A Route— Peace — 
Arrival of Padre Piccolo — An Exploration — Condition of the Conquest 
Salva Tierra goes to Senora for Food— An Expedition to the Gila and 
Colorado of the West by Padres Kino and Salva Tierra — Return to 
Senora— Padre Salva Tierra leaves for California— Another Expedi- 
tion to the Gila and Colorado by Padres Kino and Gonzales— Indians 
and Rivers — Death — Last Days of Padre Kino — A lost Grave. 

No other expedition of any moment is undertaken to Cali- 
fornia until 1615, when Captain Juan Iturbi obtains a license 
for making a voyage at his own expense. One of his two 
ships is captured by a Dutch pirate. With the other he 
reaches the coast of Cinaloa, and procures suppHes from a Je- 
suit Missionary, Padre Ribas, preparatory to crossing the 
Gulf. But before leaving port he is ordered out to convoy 
the Philippine ship to Acapulco. This done, he returns to 
Mexico, and by exhibiting the pearls he has taken fires anew 
the wonder and cupidity of the whole country. The Califor- 
nian pearl fisheries are soon thronged. A few find what they 
desire, but an infinitely greater number are disappointed. 
The results, however, lead to the granting of a hcense to 
Francisco de Ortega to make a voyage up the Gulf. He sails 
in March, 1632. Accompanying him is Padre Diego de la 
Nava, the newly appointed Vicar-general of California. 

On the second of May they land at San Barnabe bay ; and 
having made a special survey of the coast from this point to 



SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

La Paz and purchased some pearls of the Indians, they touch 
at Cinaloa, and in June go thence to report their proceedings 
to the Viceroy. In 1633 and '34, Capt. Ortega makes two 
other voyages for the purpose of forming a settlement in Cali- 
fornia ; but finds the country so barren that he is obliged to 
abandon his design. He now proposes to have a garrison es- 
tablished at some proper point for colonization, and a sum of 
money granted from the royal treasury to maintain settlers for 
a definite period. But while he is agitating these measures, 
he has the mortification to learn that his pilot, Carboneli, has 
not only obtained a license for making a voyage, but asserts 
the practicability of settling the country farther north, with- 
out depending on the government for supplies. This pilot 
sails in 1636 ; but to his chagrin nowhere finds such a coun- 
try as he has promised ; and, after obtaining a few pearls, re- 
turns to confess his failure. 

After this, an expedition is undertaken at His Majesty's ex- 
pense. The governor of Cinaloa receives orders to pass over 
to California and survey the islands, bays, coast and face of 
the country, preparatory to making a chart for the use of na- 
vigators. He does so. Padre Jacinto Cortez, a missionary 
of Cinaloa, accompanies him in order to ascertain if it be 
practicable to Christianize the Indians. They complete the 
svrv*>y in July, 1642, and soon after send their charts, pearls, 
and other things procured, to the Viceroy. 

A change is now taking place at Mexico. The Viceroy, 
Don Diego Lopez Pacheco, Marquis de Villena and Duke of 
Esclona, returns to Spain under suspicion, and is succeeded 
by Don Juan de Palafox. The Marquis successfully vindi- 
cates himself against the malicious charges of his enemies, 
and procures an expedition to California to be ordered under 
Admiral Don Pedro Portel de Cassanate. This man is em- 
powered to build and equip fleets, and make settlements in 
California, and do such other acts as he may deem best calcu- 
lated to bring the natives of that country into the church. The 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 151 

spiritual welfare of this expedition is committed to Padres 
Jacinto Cortez and Andrez Baes, Missionaries of Cinaloa. 

Having arrived at Cinaloa, Cassanate receives instructions 
to go out and meet the Philippine ship which it is feared will 
fall into the hands of English or Dutch pirates. He brings 
her safely in ; and while he is making preparations to sail 
again to California, two of his ships are burned. Discourag- 
ing as this circumstance is, he resolves not to be defeated by 
it. Two others are built at Cinaloa in 1647-8, in which he 
sails to the place of destination. But he finds the country, as 
far as he explores it, barren and dry. Before he completes 
his survey, however, he receives orders to go a second time 
and conduct a Philippine ship into Acapulco. This done, he 
proceeds to lay the results of his expedition before the Viceroy. 

This excellent man is soon after promoted to the Govern- 
ment of Chili ; and California is neglected till 1665, when 
Philip IV. again orders its reduction. The execution of this 
effort is entrusted to Don Bernado Bernal de Pinadero. But 
the Spanish treasury is now exhausted ; the nation and its 
colonies are impoverished. Two small vessels only, therefore, 
are built in the Valle de Venderas. In 1666 they sail to the 
coast, rob the poor natives of some pearls, and make their 
way back to report that expedition also, a failure. The Queen 
mother, acting as Regent, orders Pinadero to make another 
attempt. In this he is accompanied by the celebrated Padre 
Kino. This likewise results in nothing valuable. In the fol- 
lowing year Francisco Luzenilla obtains a license for a voy- 
age at his own expense. This proves, like all others, fruit- 
less of results worthy of note. In 1667, the importance of 
making a settlement in California for a rendezvous of ships 
trading to the Philippine Islands, is again brought before the 
Council of the Indies; and it is finally determined to instruct 
the Viceroy and the Archbishop of Mexico to send out Admi- 
ral Pinadero again, if he will give security for the perform- 
ance of that duty according to the decrees of Council; and if 
he decline, to make the offer to any person who will under- 



152 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

take it, at his own expense ; and if none so offer, it is ordered 
to be accomplished at the expense of the crown. Admiral 
Pinadero having refused, Admiral Otondo accepts the proposi- 
tion. The spiritual Government is conferred on the Jesuits. 
Padre Kino as superior, and Padres Copart and Goni accom- 
pany the expedition. 

They put to sea from Chacala on the eighteenth of May 
1683, and in fourteen days reach La Paz. They think it 
singular, on landing, not to see any Indians ; but as soon as 
they begin to erect a garrison, considerable numbers appear, 
armed and hideously painted, who intimate by sio^ns that the 
Spaniards must leave their country. After some effort, how- 
ever, on the part of the Padres, and uniform kindness from the 
officers, soldiers and seamen, their intercourse becomes 
apparently unconstrained and friendly. Soon, however, cir- 
cumstances occur which arouse suspicion. The reported 
murder of a mulatto boy, added to some indignities towards 
the garrison, indicate the need of great watchfulness on the 
part of the voyagers. Danger lurks near them. The Guaya- 
curos among whom they sojourn, offer to unite with their 
enemies, the Coras, for the extirpation of the Spaniards. The 
Coras appear to entertain the proposition, but report it to the 
Admiral on their earliest opportunity. The soldiers are thrown 
into such a panic by the discovery of this plot, that the Admi- 
ral and Padres are obliged to exert all fheir authority and 
persuasion to induce them to meet the event with fortitude. 
The day of the intended massacre arrives. The Indians ap- 
pear, to the number of thirteen or fourteen hundred. A pa- 
derero, or cannon, is fired among them, by which ten or 
twelve are killed and several wounded. The remainder 
retire in confusion to their rancherias. The garrison 
is safe; no one even vrounded. But this victory does 
not discourage their fear of the Indians. The dry crags, 
the treeless sands and thirsty torrent-chasms are, to the 
anxious mi" ds of the timid men, peopled with forms of death ; 
and every a wl of the lean wolf upon the heights, grates like 



TRAVELS IN THE CAL IFOR N IAS 153 

a coffin screw on their ears. Otondo is, tliereiore, obliged to 
weigh anchor lor lluiqui on the Senora shore. Here he sells 
all his pearls, and pieilges his plate lor stores. Like a brave 
man bent on his end, he seeks again the Californian shore, 
and on the sixth of October anchors at San Bruno Bay, in 
Lat. 16^ 30'. 

On the same day, Otondo, the three Padres, and some sol- 
diers, explore for fresh water, and hnd it in a narrow vale one 
mile and a half from shore. Near this they establish a gar- 
rison, build a rude church, and some huts. And now Otondo 
sends two ships to Mexico wath an account of his proceed- 
ings, and a request for more money ; takes possession of the 
country in the name of the king ; goes fifty leagues westward 
in the month of December among mountains and desert vales ; 
ascends an elevation, where he finds several leao:ues of table 
land, with a temperate climate and a fresh-water lake of 
small size ; advances beyond, on a toilsome journey over steeps 
and depths, in search of a peak from which to see the Pacific 
Ocean ; fails to do so, and returns to San Bruno. The Indians 
whom they meet are much delighted with the paternal kindness 
of the Padres. Otondo employs himself a year in like ex- 
plorations at different points along the coast. The Padres 
are busy meantime in learning the language of the Indians 
and instructing them in the Catholic religion. They trans- 
late the Catechism, teach it to the children, and these in turn 
teach it to their parents. The voice of heathenism utters 
prayers to Jehovah on the Californian mountains ! 

The Padres find no word in their language to represent the 
resurrection of the dead. That idea has not existed in their 
minds, and consequently has no expression in their language. 
Resort is had to a very ingenious method of finding one 
which will present it. Some flies are immersed in water un- 
til animation seems extinct. They are then placed among 
ashes in the heat of the sun till restored to life. The In- 
dians who witness the operation cry out, Ibimuhueite ! Ibi- 
muhueite ! This word or expression is afterward used to 



154 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

represent the resurrection of the Saviour, and conveys to the 
Indian a clear conception of that holy event. The Padres 
instruct during the year four hundred adults and many child- 
ren, but baptize none except those who are at the door of 
death. Some of these sick indeed, recover, and prove useful 
teachers. Most of them, however, die, holding fast their 
new faith. In these several ways do the priests and Otondo 
consume the year. At its close, dispatches arrive from the 
Viceroy requiring an account of proceedings, and forbidding 
any farther attempts to be made for the conquest and settle- 
ment of California w^hich should involve the Government in 
expense. 

On the reception of these dispatches a council of the Pa- 
dres and military officers is held, the determination of which 
is, that a small ship shall be sent with dispatches to Mexico, 
that the Padres shall continue to teach the Indians, and Oton- 
do to explore the country and pearl beds. In September, 
1685, however, a peremptory order comes prohibiting farther 
efforts at settling the country, and ordering, if possible, to 
keep possession of what is already conquered. But it has 
now become apparent that San Bruno must be abandoned. 
No rain has fallen for nearly two years ; dearth, thirst, and 
hunger, stand near them ; and to escape is the settled desire 
of all, except the priests. These men of iron souls would 
stay to teach the savage. But Otondo weighs anchor, and 
with priests, soldiers, seamen, and three native converts, 
squares his yards for the harbor of Matanchel, on the Mexi- 
can shore. 

This is the last expedition of the civil power of Spain to 
conquer and settle California. Padre Ktno has begun to 
conquer it with the Cross ; and we shall follow him in his 
triumphs and trials while he achievei? it. The professor of 
Ingoldstadt, Padrk Kino, tlie devotee of San Xavier, traverses 
Mexico preaching to his brother Jesuits the glories of mar- 
tyrdom, and the rich reward of those who save from wo the 
doomed and lost In order to forward his zeal, he is ap» 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFOilNIAS lf)5 

pointed to the charge of the Missions on the Senora coast, 
whence it will be easy to send supplies across the Gulf to the 
more barren regions of the peninsula. Padre Juan Maria 
Salva Tierua is designated to lead the way on the California 
side. He solicits contributions ; obtains Padre Juan Ugarte, a 
professor in the college at Mexico, as a fellow-laborer ; fif- 
teen thousand dollars to be pledged the Society of Jesuits for 
the enterprise ; ten thousand more to be given it as a fund 
for one mission ; prevails upon the Commissary of the Inqui- 
sition at Queretaro, Don Juan Cavalero Y. Ozio, to subscribe 
funds for two other missions, and obligate himself to pay what- 
ever bills shall be drawn on him by Padre Salva Tierra. 

The license for the Jesuits to enter California is granted on 
the fifth of February, 1627. The special warrants empower- 
ing Padres Kino and Salva Tierra to enter California are 
subject to these conditions : that they waste nothing belong- 
ing to the king, nor draw upon the government treasury with- 
out express orders from his majesty ; that they take posses- 
sion of the country, and hold it in the name of the King of 
Spain. 

The powers granted them in these warrants are, to enlist 
soldiers at their own expense ; appoint a commander, whose 
immunities shall be accounted the same as in time of war ; to 
commission magistrates for the administration of justice in 
California ; and discharge all these from their service at will. 
With full powers both civil and ecclesiastical, therefore, and 
the treasury both of the Inquisition and of many private indivi- 
duals to draw upon, Padre Salva Tierra goes from Mexico to 
Guadalaxara ; thence to Hiaqui, in Senora ; and thence on the 
tenth of October, 1697, with five soldiers, Estevan Rodriguez 
Lorenzo, Bartoleme de Robles Figueroa, Juan Caravana, 
Nicolas Marques, and Juan, with their commander, Don Luis 
de Torres Tortolero, embarks for the scene of his future trials. 
A great moral hero, with his little band, kneeling in prayer 
on t^ie deck of a galliot, bound for the conquest of California ! 
The sails are loosened to the winds 3 they leave the harbor ; 



158 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

but they have proceeded hardly a league, when a squall comes 
on, which strands them on the beach. All now appear to be 
lost. But they save themselves in the long-boat ; and when 
the tide rises, the galliot floats again, and proceeds on her 
voyage. A holy voyage is begun ) its consequences are full 
of hope to man ! 

On the thirteenth they touch at San Bruno, in California, 
and at San Dionysio, ten leagues south of San Bruno. At 
the latter place, fifty Indians receive them with joy. A fine 
watering-place, discovered in a deep and fruitful glen, indi- 
cates the place for an encampment. The provisions, bag- 
gage, and animals, therefore, are landed, and the barracks of 
the httle garrison built; a line of circumvallation is thrown 
up, in the centre of which a temporary chapel is raised ; be- 
fore it a crucifix, adorned with a garland of flowers, is erect- 
ed ; and " the image of our Lady of Loretto, as patroness of 
the conquest, is brought in procession from the galliot, and 
placed with proper solemnity." On the twenty-fifth of Oc- 
tober, formal possession is taken of the country in the name 
of the King of Spain. 

Thus commences the religious conquest of California by 
Padre Salva Tierra; a voluntary exile from the highest cir- 
cles of European life ; a great man, with a strong and kind 
heart ; abandoning kindred, ease, and intellectual society, for 
the well-being of the stupid and filthy natives of the Cali- 
fornian deserts. 

The Padre now sends the galliot to Hiaqui for Padre 
Piccolo, some soldiers and provisions. Meantime he applies 
himself with unceasing assiduity to learning the Indian lan- 
guage and teaching religion. He pursues the same course as 
he would with stupid children ; induces them to learn the 
prayers and catechisms, by rewarding attention and industiy 
with something to eat. By thus addressing their strongest 
propensity as a stimulant for the acquisition of knowledge, 
he hopes to awaken and instruct their higher faculties of 
thought and sense of right. In the latter he, for a time, fails. 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 157 

For the savages, dissatisfied with the amount of food which 
the Padre gives them, fall upon the animals of the post, 
destroy them, and steal corn from the sacks. Nor are they 
satisfied with this. They meditate a general attack on the 
garrison, in order to destroy or drive the people from the 
country. The good Padre knows their designs, but continues 
his kindness. Their insolence increases. On the thirteenth 
of November, the tribes meet to strike a decisive blow. 
Four savages come to the camp about noon, while the garri- 
son are eating. The sentinel tries to prevent their entering 
the trenches, and one of the boldest of them deprives him of 
the staff used as a halberd. The soldier cries out, and Tor- 
tolero running up, wrests it from the Indian with such force 
and boldness, that the invaders are frightened and retire. At 
this moment the Indian Alonzo de Tepahui, who keeps the 
swine and sheep in a valley overgrown with rushes and flags, 
is assaulted by another party. But aid being immediately 
rendered, himself and animals are saved. And now falls a 
shower of arrows and stones from five hundred Indians, ad- 
vancing to attack the camp. 

Ten men and one Californian Indian compose the garrison. 
And how shall they be so detailed as to meet this numerous 
force ? Tortolero, the acting commander, stations himself and 
Bartolerae de Robles on the entrenchment facing the lower 
part of the valley, the post of greatest danger ; on the oppo- 
site side are Juan de Peru and the Indian Alonzo de Tepahui ; 
on the side looking towards the river, stands the bold and 
active Indian Marcos Guazavas ; on the remaining side is 
Estevan Rodrigues ; the Maltese Juan Caravana has the care 
of the paderero, or cannon, placed at the gate of the camp ; 
and near to him is Nicolas Marques, the Sicilian, as assistant 
gunner ; Salva Tierra and Sebastien, his Indian, occupy the 
centre, in order to give aid where there should be the most 
need. The forces have barely time to make this disposition of 
themselves, when the savages begin to advance on all sides, 
with dreadful shouting and outcries. They are repulsed with as 



158 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

little destruction of life as possible. Padre Salva Tierra de- 
sires that course to be pursued. The Indians return to the at- 
tack repeatedly for two hours, throwing stones, arrows, and 
wooden javelins into the trenches, when suddenly the whole 
body retreats and the action ceases. Half an hour elapses, and 
they return reinforced, and press upon the trenches with rage so 
fierce and deadly, that the hope of successful resistance with- 
out the paderero grows faint. The Padre, therefore, consents 
to have it fired. The match is applied. But instead of de- 
stroying the Indians, it bursts in pieces and flies about the 
camp, knocking Juan Caravana senseless to the ground. 
The Indians against whom it has been levelled, perceive this 
misfortune, and send notice of it to others with the remark, 
that since the paderero does not kill, they need not fear the 
smaller pieces. Of this they are the more persuaded, because 
the Padre has ordered the soldiers to shoot over them. And 
the kind old priest, now that the Captain thinks it necessary to 
fire into the Indian ranks, rushes between the guns and the 
savages, beseeching them not to press on sure destruction ! 
Three arrows shot at him are the reward of his kindness. 
Happily, the Padre is not injured. But he withdraws and 
leaves them to their fate. And now they fall before the 
muskets of the soldiers ! The wounded and dying groan on 
every side ! A route succeeds ! They fly in confusion to their 
villages ! 

Soon after, messengers of peace arrive. The first is a 
Chief. He weeps ; he talks in broken grief; he acknow- 
ledges himself the cause of these disturbances ; he first formed 
the plot, inspirited and drew in the other tribes ; he and they 
have sought vengeance ; but are now sincerely repentant. 
Next comes a band of women leading children. They seat 
themselves at the gate of the camp, and weeping bitterly, and 
promising good conduct for themselves and their husbands, 
offer the children as hostages. The good Padre is greatly 
rejoiced to see these signs of sorrow ; explams to them 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 159 

the wickedness of their acts; and promises them peace, 
friendship, and other good things, if their husbands prove 
true to their league. And receiving one of the children in 
order to remove all suspicion from their minds, sends them to 
their friends and homes with shouts and other demonstrations 
of great joy. And now night comes on in this vast waste of 
burned mountains ! The httle chapel is opened for worship. 
Special " thanks are returned to God, His most holy mother, 
and Saint Stanislaus for his manifold favors." 

On examining the camp next morning, it is found " that 
most of the arrows stick in the pedestal of the cross; whilst 
the cross itself, and tent which serves for a chapel to ' oiu" 
lady of Loretto,' are untouched." None of the garrison are 
killed ; two only are wounded. These are the brave Tortolero 
and Figueroa ; and they adore the holy cross as the standard 
of their faith ; " they sing Ave Maria to our lady as their 
Captain, and unanimously determine to remain in the country." 
This garrison is called Loretto. To it, for many years to 
come, will centre the events of the country. Even now it is 
a bright and lone starry point : the only lamp of truth that 
burns, from Cape San Lucas to the north pole, is at Loretto. 
The only civilized men that live on all that extent of coast, 
breathe this first night after the battle, with their hands 
clenched on their guns, in the tents of the garrison at Loretto 
in Lower California ! 

On the twenty-third of November a long-boat arrives from 
Senora with Padre Francisco Maria Piccolo — a missionary 
among the Tarahumares, who has left his former field of toil, 
for this new one in California. Padre Salva Tierra has, by 
his arrival, a companion at his prayers, and in his labor among 
these savages. The soldiers now erect some works of defence 
within the camp; the trench is enlarged and fortified with a 
palisade and thorny branches of trees ; a chapel is built of 
mortar and stone, with thatched roof, for the image of " our 
Lady of Loretto ;" three other structures are raised, one for 
the Padres, one for the Captain, and one for a magazine ; and 



160 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

near to these are raised the barracks. The Padres employ 
themselves with the Indians. A small tribe is allowed to take 
up quarters near the camp. 

The native priests, perceiving by this movement of their 
people, that their authority is diminishing, raise a party to op- 
pose the Padres. They steal a long-boat and break it in pieces ; 
attack a party in pursuit of them, and are driven from the ground ; 
repent, and are again received into favor by the forgiving 
Padres. Don Pedro Gil de la Sierpe sends Padre Salva Tier- 
RA a bark called San Firmin, and a long-boat called San 
Xavier. With these they bring wood, fruits, and horses and 
cattle, from the opposite coast of Senora. The Padres under- 
srtand the Indian languages ; they also have horses to bear 
them in their travels ; and they undertake, in the beginning 
of the year 1699, to explore different parts of the country. 
Padres Salva Tierra and Piccolo visit a place called Londo, 
eight leagues northward from Loretto. Here is found a 
populous village and some tillable land. But the inhabitants 
flee as the Padres approach. They call it San Juan de Lon- 
do. Next they attempt to penetrate Vigge Biaundo, lying 
south of Loretto. On the tenth of May, the soldiers, after 
much suffering among the rugged precipices, refusing to go 
farther. Padre Piccolo determines to go alone, and climbs 
the precipices till he comes to a village, where he is received 
by the savages with the most cordial demonstrations of love. 
He instructs them four days ; names the place San Xavier, 
and departs. Some portions of this mountain valley can be ir- 
rigated and tilled for grains and fruit trees. The neighboring 
heights are craggy and barren ; about their bases are some 
fine pasture lands. 

From San Xavier, Padre Piccolo goes westward to the sea, 
and explores its coast in vain for a harbor and habitable lands. 
During this journey he discovers, four leagues southwest from 
San Xavier, a large village of tractable Indians. They reside 
on the head waters of a fine stream running westward into 
the Pacific 3 — a beautifu. spot among a dreary desolation. 



TRAVELS IN THE C A LI FOR N I AS. IGI 

which he consecrates to San Rosalia. At San Xavier, during 
his absence, the Indians and soldiers have built with sun-diied 
bricks some small houses and a chapel. The Indians from San 
Rosalia are there ; and PADRt; Salva Tierra consecrates the 
Chapel to San Xavier, with great devotion and joy. This 
done, Padre Piccolo is left in charge at San Xavier, and Pa- 
dre Salva Tierra returns to Loretto. 

The shi[)ping of the mission at this time consists of two ves- 
sels, the San Firmin and San Josef, and the long-boat San 
Xavier. The number of settlers already in California of Spa- 
niards, half-breeds, and Mexican Indians, is six hundred per- 
sons ; and as the means of supplying them with food from the 
country produce, has not increased in proportion, it becomes 
necessary to redouble their diligence to obtain them elsewhere 
From Mexico they can export nothing, for the Captain of the 
Garrison at Loretto, having been prevented from using the 
converts in the pearl fishery, and thus ruining their health, 
and the Padre's hope of rearing them for Heaven, has, by his 
misrepresentations of these benevolent men, rendered ineffec- 
tual Padre Ugarte's efforts in that quarter. Unfortunately also 
at this juncture, the two ships of the California missions are 
cast away ! Nothing is left them now but the long-boat ! 
Distress is creeping upon them ! The fearful, maddening ex- 
pectation of starving to death begins to be talked of in Loret- 
to, when Padre Salva Tierra takes the leaky long-boat and 
goes to the great presiding genius of the missions. Padre Kino, 
in Senora, for relief. These Padres are devoted friends. They 
meet and embrace each other warmly, and relate, in the shades 
of a beautiful evening, all the hardships which have befallen 
them ; and the success that has attended their labors among 
the savages. Padre Salva Tierra has reduced the Indians for 
the space of fifty leagues about Loretto ; founded four towns, 
in which are six hundred Indian Christians ; two thousand 
adult Catechumens, besides many children ; all of w^hom are 
now starving ! 

Padre Kino entered Senora in 1687. He was appointed to 



162 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

the lonely missions in the neighborhood of the Indians in the 
upper country, called Pimeria Alta, a district extending three 
hundred miles to the northward of Senora, and embracing the 
Tallies of the Gila and the Colorado. He went alone among 
these wild Indians ; learned their language ; formed them into 
communities ; prevailed upon them to cultivate grains and raise 
cattle ; and, by the aid of subordinate agents, has reformed their 
civil pohty; and indoctrinated them in the mysteries and 
hopes of the CathoUc faith. And such is the reverent love of 
these savages for the excellent Padre that they greet him 
everywhere as little children do a kind parent, who comes 
to bless and love them. This influence he uses only for their 
good. He procures from his Sovereign an edict against their 
being seized by the Spaniards and immersed in the mines to 
labor till dead ! He acquaints the Vice-Royal Government at 
Mexico that the military powers often accuse them of rebel- 
lion, and make war upon them for the base purpose of taking 
them captives to dive for pearls and dig in the mountains for 
the precious metals, and procures a cessation of such barbari- 
ty. This is a great work of mercy. For previously, in all 
those regions, it has been customary for the civil and military 
authorities to make the Indians labor on the lands or in the 
mines five years after their conversion. They pay for Chris- 
tianity in their hearts by the servitude of their bodies. And 
seldom do the poor Indians live to be free again, after this 
chain of avarice is put upon them. Very many are the clus- 
ters of little wooden crosses, near these mines, which stand 
over the graves of those who have been worked to death in 
their deep and dismal depths ! Padre Kino gives them liber- 
ty ; builds them houses and chapels ; teaches them agricul- 
ture and many other useful arts. Their animals now range on 
a thousand hills ; their ploughs turn the soil of a thousand 
fields ; and their belfries send their peals for prayer and praise 
up a thousand vales ! 

Such is the result of the labors of Padre Kino in Pimeria, 
and such the happy condition of the numerous tribes of In- 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 163 

dians on the waters of the Gila and Colorado in the year 170(X 
These Padres have wrought well in the vineyards of the Faith. 
And they are now met to converse about the fate of these la- 
bors. They have learned that malice has destroyed their in- 
terest in Mexico and Spain. They know that the lives of the 
garrison at Loretto depend on their sole energy and means. 
And well would it be for the distressed everywhere if the re- 
lief which they need were dependent on such hearts and heads 
as those of the Padres Kino and Salva Tierra. The Indian 
farms are laid under contribution, and the keel of genuine 
mercy is fast cutting its way to Loretto to feed the dying ' 
Words, wishes, speeches, associations, societies, general and 
special committee rooms, and newspapers devoted to " the 
cause," are the outlets and substance of benevolence in the 
seventeenth century — an untiring chase after the shade of a 
great idea. In the seventeenth, these hated priests of an 
odious order, whose name has come to be the common term 
of the most refined knavery, and even introduced into our 
lexicons as the appellation for the basest villany, perform acts 
of the highest virtue, endure hardships of the severest charac- 
ter, and make sacrifices of the noblest nature, for a class of 
beings who will never have intelligence enough to appreciate 
them. 

After succors are sent to California, these Padres agree to 
explore the northwest country, in order to ascertain whether 
California be an island, or whether it be merely a peninsula. 
This question is deemed of great moment to the missions in 
California ; for if supplies can be sent by land from Padre 
Kino's mission to Loretto, the expense of shipping to carry 
them across ♦^^he Gulf will be avoided, and the certainty of 
their arrival much increased. Accordingly, it is agreed 
that Padres Kino and Salva Tierra shall take differ- 
ent routes towards the Colorado. They determine to 
visit, on the way. Padre Kino's converts at the several 
missions in that region, and meet at Mission de I>olores. 
Accordingly Padre Salva Tierra goes by San Ignacio, 



164 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

San Diepo de Uquitoa, and San Diepo de Pitqiiin, to 
river Caborca, and follows its course to Tibutama, Axi, 
Concepcion de Caborca; while Padre Kino takes the 
route by Cocospera, San Simon and Jude ; strikes the 
river Caborca and follows its banks through Tierra Tibutama, 
and other villages, to the place of rendezvous. Thence the 
Padres, accompanied by ten soldiers, go northward to San 
Eduardo de Baissia, San Luis de Bacapa, and thence twelve 
leagues to San Marcello. This latter place lies northeast 
from the mouth of the river Colorado, fifty leagues north of 
the latitude of the Gila, the same distance from the river Ca- 
borca and the same distance eastward from San Xavier del 
Bac. The soil of this valley is fit for tillage and pasturage, 
and abounding in water for all uses. It is surrounded by 
deserts and lofty mountains. Here they are informed by the 
Indians of two ways to approach the mouth of the Colorado ; 
the one to the right over the mountains and valley of Santa 
Clara, the other and the shorter along the coast over a broad 
tract of sands. The Padres desire to examine the coast, 
and for this reason, unfortunately, choose the latter route 
They travel thirty leagues on the south side of the mountains 
in search of the Gulf ; pass a large section of the mountains, 
composed of pumice stone ; and on the nineteenth of March, 
arrive at the sandy waste. On the twentieth. Padre Kino 
and Captain Mateo Mange, ascend a lofty peak in Lat. 30^ 
N., and not only see the Gulf 'but the opposite shore and 
mountains of California. On the twenty-first they reach the 
beach. Want of fresh water, and the difficulty of wading in 
the loose and burning sand, compels them to return to Marcel- 
lo, and take a higher track, in Lat. 32^ 30', where they ascend 
a bill of moderate height, from which are clearly seen the moun- 
tains of California, the termination of the Gulf, the mouth of the 
Colorado, the junction of California with the continent ! The 
Padre Kino joyfully returns to San Marcello to build a church 
and give directions for a new mission, while Salva Tierra goes 
to Cabarca Delores and the other missions of Senora, collect- 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 165 

ing charities for California, and with heightened expectations 
of saving the hves of his friends at Loretto, ships himself 
and them in the old long-boat San Xavier at the mouth of 
the river Hiaqui, and arri\es at Loretto the latter end of 
April, 1701. Joy fills the camp on the arrival of the good 
Padre ; and earnest thanksgivings are offered in the chapel by 
his spiritual children on account of his return. 

Here we leave California for a brief space to follow good 
old Padre Kino through the labors of his last days. In No- 
vember of 1701 he takes another excursion to San Marcello 
by a new route, and thence onward to the Gila. He fords 
this river at San Dionysio near its junction with the Colorado ; 
and having viewed the neighboring country, repasses the Gila 
and descends the Colorado twenty leagues, among the villages 
of the Yumas and Quinquimas. Here vast numbers of Indians 
come to see the Padre and hear him speak of the white man's 
God. The Colorado at this place is two hundred yards wide. 
The Indians swim it. If they desire to take anything across, 
it is placed in a water-tight basket, made of rushes and herbs 
called Corysta, and floated along before them. Padre Kino 
crosses the river on a raft made of tree-tops, and finds on the 
other shore, great numbers of Quinquimas, Coanopas, Bagio- 
pas and Octguanes Indians, to whom he explains, by means 
of interpreters, the nature of the true God and the after state. 
He travels on foot three leagues to the residence of the chief 
of the Quinquimas. The country over which he passes is 
level, and covered with a soil fit lor tillage and grazing. He 
calls the place Presentacion de Nuestra Senora. In this neigh- 
borhood he sees ten thousand Indians. Padre Kino is very 
desirous of travelling to Monterey and Cape Mendocino. 
But it being impossible for his animals to ford the river, he 
reluctantly gives up the hope of progressing farther, and 
returns to his missions in Pimeria. 

In February, 1702, Padre Kino journeys in company with 
Martin Gonzales. On the twenty-eighth they arri-ve at San Dio- 
nysio, at the junction of the Gila and Colorado. On the way 



]66 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC 

and at this place the Indians throng the path of this good man, 
kneeling like children to a loved grandsire for a blessing. 
In March they advance as far as the village of the Quin- 
quimas, and name it San Rudesindo. These Indians show 
Much love towards the Padres, and even towards the beasts 
that bear them. The good Padre Gonzales is affected to tears 
by these demonstrations ; and strips off a part of his own 
wardrobe to clothe an aged man who follows him. They 
now travel down the Colorado to its entrance into the Gulf. 
Here many Indians come from the western shore and entreat 
the Padres to pass over into their country. They learn from 
them that the Pacific is ten days' journey from this place. The 
night of the tenth is spent at the point where the river and the 
Gulf meet. The tide rises very high and swashes near their 
couches ; horned night-owls hoot on the crags ; Padre Gon- 
zaies groans with extreme illness ! These Padres have de- 
signed to cross the river at this r>lace, and travel over the 
mountains to the Pacific Ocean. But Padre Kino sees the 
necessity of returning with his sick brother. He succeeds in 
getting him to the mission of Tibuiama, where he dies. 
Death in the wilderness, to one who goes into its depths to 
sow the seeds of salvation, is sweet. The desires of the mind 
touch the earth lightly. Their objects are things of thought 
and trust. The hand of hope is laid on the skies ! The eye 
follows it to the temple of immortal faith ; is absorbed and 
fixed there, to the exclusion of everything material. The 
Dains incident to the separation of the living principle from 
the body, are like brambles which one passes to fields ot 
flowers and fruits, singing birds, pebbly streams, and odorous 
shades. And the grave itself becomes in truth the pass-way 
only to the full enjoyment of the proper objects of the moral 
sense, without iknit or satiety. So this missionary dies, and 
is buried among the graves of Indian Christians at Tibutama, 
The years 1703, 1704, and 1705, Padre Kino spends in 
building up the missions of Pimeria, and in resisting the per- 
secuticn raised against him because he will not permit the 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 1G7 

owners of the mines and plantations to enslave his converts. 
Having no one to assist him in so wide a province, he is al- 
most constantly travelling from one mission to another, ex- 
horting, encouraging, disciplining, and protecting his spiritual 
children. These duties task severely the tottering strength of 
the good old man. But he labors without intermission or 
discouragement, as he ripens for his reward. Nor does his 
ardent interest in the Californian missions abate. Every few 
months he forwards to Loretto his largesses of provisions and 
animals. But as the expense of supporting shipping for that 
purpose becomes more and more apparent and perplexing, he 
determines once more to attempt an exploration of a land 
route, by which suppUes can be sent from the mission on the 
Gila down the coast to Loretto. Accordingly, in 1706, he 
turns his footsteps again towards the Colorado, in company 
with the chief military officers of Senora, and the Franciscan 
monk, Manuel de Ojuela. This last expedition of Padre 
Kino results in confirming his previous discoveries. But be- 
ing unable to penetrate to Loretto, he returns to his missions, 
and defends them with the same dauntless courage against the 
avarice and cruelty of the miners, and the civil and military 
powers, till 1710, when he passes from the scenes of his be- 
nevolence and trials to his grave. 

There are few good men in the world. Consequently, when 
one of this class dies, there is a jewel lost from the crown of 
earthly virtue. ALL feel the loss of its hght, and grope 
nearer to the ground in their way onward to their destiny. 
Padre Kino has given his best energies to the Pimerian and 
Californian missions. The poor Indians on both sides of the 
Gulf have been accustomed to eat his bread and receive his 
blessing. The bells now toll through all Pimeria and Senora, 
at Loretto and San Xavier. The Indians kneel in their rude 
chapels, and pray for his soul, and invoke for him the good 
fellowship of departed saints Padre Kino is buried among 
the heights of Pimeria, the scene of his trials and hopes. His 
grave is lost among the driving sands of those desolate re- 
gions ; but his good deeds will live for ever 



CHAPTER X. 

Meeting of Padres Salva Tierra and Ugarte— A Plot— Burning of Saa 
Xavier— Ugarte at San Xavier— Famine— A Runaway — A Murder — 
A Campaign — Rejoicings — A Tempest — An Arrival of Food and Sol- 
diers — Measures for the Advancement of the Conquest — Exploration of 
the Interior — Sacking of San Xavier — Massacres — A Court Martial — 
An Execution — Peace — Expedition to the North — Distress — A Council, 
and its Results — Endurance — Roaming and Starving— An Attack — 
Salva Tierra leaves California— His Return— Extension of the Con- 
quest — Ligui, and a great Example — A Chastisement— A murderous 
Attempt — Mulege — Cada Kaaman — The Triumph of the Good — Poi- 
son — Death. 

During the absence of Padre Salva Tierra in Pimeria, 
Padre Ugarte has arrived at Loretto with a few supplies. 
The meeting of these two men in that distant land is warm 
and hearty. They have labored long in the same cause — 
have hoped ardently for the same result — the growth of the 
tree of life on the shores of California. The one has used 
his utmost energies at Mexico and Guadalaxara to procure 
the means to support the other, while breaking up the ground 
and casting in the seed. And when all his efforts are closing 
in disappointment, and the dark night of malice is casting 
gloom over them, and his expectations are giving place to 
despair, he flies to his fellow-laborer in the wilderness, to die 
with him, if need be, in a last struggle to bring the Californian 
Indians within the fold of the Catholic faith. After thanks 
are rendered to God for the favor of meeting again, the Pa- 
dres earnestly resolve to sustain the sinking missions. It is 
agreed, therefore, that Padre Piccolo shall go to Mexico and 
make farther trial to obtain funds for that purpose. He ac- 
cordingly puts to sea, but is driven back by a tempest ; and 
again he leaves the harbor, but is again compelled to return. 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 169 

These unfavorable trials induce him to postpone his voyage 
to a more favorable season. He returns, therefore, to his 
mission at San Xavier, and Padre Ugarte remains at Loretto 
with Padre Salva Tieura, to learn the Indian language, and 
assist wherever his services may be needed. 

Another class of events now transpire which change some- 
what the aspect of affairs among them, and give hope of 
better things. The military commandant, who has, by his 
misrepresentations, rendered abortive the efforts of Padre 
Ugarte, at Mexico, finds that the authorities will not relieve 
him from subordination to the Padres, and resigns. Captain 
Don Antonio Garcia de Mendoza is therefore succeeded by one 
Isadore de Figueroa. This man, however, proves unworthy 
of his trust in a difficulty with the savages of San Xavier. 
The Indians of that mission plan the murder of Padre Piccolo. 
And led on by the conjurors, or priests of their old religion, 
they come down upon the few converts who remain faithful, 
with such violence as to get possession of the premises ; and 
enraged at the Padre's escape to Loretto, burn the mission 
buildings and furniture. A number of the converts have been 
killed in this outbreak ; the fields of San Xavier, the only 
grounds within the limits of the missions on which grain can 
be grown, are laid waste ; the success of the savages in this 
instance will embolden them to attack Loretto. All these, 
as reasons, determine the Padres to send Captain Figueroa 
with his soldiers to chastise them and recover the mission. 
Accordingly he marches his troops to San Xavier. The In- 
dians flee before him. The soldiers desire to pursue them. 
But the commander forbids it ; and otherwise shows such a 
w^ant of courage and manliness, that the soldiers depose him, 
and elect in his stead, Don Estevan Rodriguez Lorenzo, 
who leads them in pursuit among the breaks of the moun- 
tains ; but without success. 

At the end of this year, 1700, Padre Fgarte having learn- 
ed the Indian language, and the Indians of San Xavier having 
become satisfied and peaceable, it is resolved to rebuild the 



SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

^•nission and put it under his charge. Accordingly he leaves 
Loretto for that purpose. But on arriving there, the Indians, 
through fear of the soldiers that accompany him, run into the 
mountains. The Padre, nowise discouraged by this circum- 
stance, takes up his quarters on the site of the burned mission, 
and awaits their return. Meanwhile the soldiers, not having 
Indians to serve them, prove troublesome. They abuse the 
Padre and one another in such manner that he determines 
to trust himself with the Indians, rather than any longer 
suffer their insolent behavior; and accordingly sends them 
back to Loretto. After the departure of the soldiers. Padre 
Ugarte remains alone all day about the ashes of the mission 
and the graves of those who were killed at the time it was 
destroyed ! He does not know how soon they will fall upon 
him likewise, and take his life. Night comes on and passes 
away ; and he is yet alone. At daylight a httle Indian lad 
comes shyly, about the Padre's couch ; is treated kindly by 
him ; examines the fields, and hastily returns to his tribe : 
and shortly afterward the good Padre is surrounded by hun- 
dreds of Indians rejoicing at his arrival, and protesting that 
soldiers are disagreeable members of their community. The 
Padre and the Indians now unite their energies to rebuild the 
mission. The first labor of Ugarte is, to secure their regular 
attendance on the catechising, the prayers and mass ; and by 
kind and affable treatment, to alienate them from their sorcer- 
ers ; the second is, to accustom them to till the land and take 
care of the cattle. To accomplish these objects he induces 
them early in the morning to attend mass ; after which Le 
feeds those who will engage in erecting the church or clear- 
ing the land for cultivation, or making trenches for irrigation, 
or digging holes for planting trees, or preparing the ground 
for sowing seed. In the progress of these labors the good 
Padre works more than any of them. He is overseer, brick- 
layer and farmer. He is first in bringing stones, first in 
treading clay for mortar, in mixing sand, cutting, carrying, 
bringing timber, removing earth and fixing materials 3 some- 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 171 

times spading up the groiincl, sometimes splitting rock with 
a crowbar, sometimes turning water into the trenches, and 
at others leading the beasts and cattle, which he has procured 
tor his mission, to pasture and to Wci4er. By his own ex- 
ample he teaches them to throw off their natural sloth, to feed 
themselves and live like rational beings. But this great ex- 
ample does not suffice to wean them from a love of the woods, 
and a listless and starving inaction. A thousand times they 
try his patience, by coming late to mass and to work, and by 
running away and jeering him, and sometimes threatening and 
forming combinations to take his life. All this the old man 
bears with unwearied patience, kindness, and holy fortitude. 
In the evening the Padre leads them again to their devotions. 
At this time the rosary is prayed over, and the catechism ex- 
plained ; and this service is followed by the distribution of 
some provisions. 

At first these Indians jest and jeer at the service, and mock 
at what he says. This the Padre bears patiently, till he finds 
forbearance increases the evil, and then makes a very dan- 
gerous attempt to suppress it. An Indian in high repute 
among his fellows for physical strength, stands near him 
during service, and mocks at all that he does. The other In- 
dians, regarding bodily strength as the only quality of great- 
ness, are vastly pleased that their champion seems the superior 
of the Padre. Ugarte perceives by their bearing, that he is 
losing their confidence. He therefore seizes the savage, in 
the midst of his profanity, by the hair of his head, and swings 
him to and fro, with determined violence, till he begs for quar- 
ter. This so frightens the tribe that they afterwards behave 
with strict d-ecorum when engaged in religious duties. The 
work of building the mission edifices, however, goes on slow^ly. 
The Padre, careful not to weary his Indians with labor, at fre- 
quent intervals instructs their stupid minds in the best methods 
of performing their tasks, and most especially, in the know- 
ledge of their Maker. In succeeding years he enjoys the 
pleasm-e of seeing his neophytes well instructed in the doc- 



T^2 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

trines of the Catholic Church, inured to patient labor, and 
residing in comfortable houses. He has turned the mountain 
streams along the crags, and changed the barren dust of the 
mountains into cultivated fields, burdened with harvests ot 
wheat, maize, and other grains. He even makes generous 
wines, sufficient to supply the missions in California, and an 
overplus to exchange in Mexico for other goods. He like- 
wise breeds horses and sheep, cattle and mules. Indeed, such 
is the success of Padre Ugarte's fortitude and industry, that 
in 1707 he becomes the Purveyor-General of the missions, 
and relieves them by the produce of his converts' labor, from 
some of the fears of starvation on that desolate coast. 

Thus has this excellent man, in the course of seven years, 
opened, by his individual influence on the Californian Indians, 
a large plantation, the products of which, in favorable seasons, 
feed thousands of savages and seven hundred whites. His 
efforts now take another direction. His sheep, brought origi- 
nally from the opposite coast, have increased to such an ex- 
tent, as to yield large quantities of wool. This the Padre 
determines shall be made to clothe his naked Indians. He, 
therefore, with his own hands, makes spinning-wheels, looms, 
and other weaving apparatus, and teaches his Indians to use 
them. In order to perfect them in these manufactures, he 
obtains a master weaver, one Antonio Moran, from Tepic, 
under a salary of five hundred dollars per annum, to instruct 
them in weaving, and various other handicrafts. By these 
new manufactures, the missions are saved vast expenses for 
sail-cloth and baize. The Indians are clad ; the grains and 
vegetables, although not a full supply, are ordinarily suf- 
ficient to prevent famine. The cattle and the other animals 
being added to these, suffice to meet the necessities of the 
Californian missions. A deed of true benevolence performed, 
where human praise can never speak of it, is a jewel in the 
crown of our nature, which can never be dimmed. How it 
beams on the robes of the good man as he steps into his 
grave ! How 't glistens in the tear of silent gratitude that is 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 173 

shed over the tomb of the dead, as ages crumble it into dust ! 
How rich a halo does it throv^r back on all after time, a rem- 
nant light of Bethlehem's holy star, to lead the living to the 
same happy use of their capacities ! These Indians' remote 
descendants will forget this good man. But his deeds will 
live in their virtues. 

We will now look into the movements of Padres Salva 
TiERRA and Piccolo. Near the end of the year 1701, the pro- 
visions which Padre Kino has sent to Loretto, are exhausted, 
and Padre Piccolo's departure to Mexico for a supply is has- 
tened. He sails on the second of December, leaving the Pa- 
dres, the garrison and Indians in absolute want. For sixty days 
they subsist o.i roots, wild fruits, and a few fish which they 
find washed up on the shore. On the twenty-ninth of January, 
1702, however, their distress is changed to gladness by the 
arrival of a boat from Padre Piccolo, laden with meat, maize, 
and other provisions. This supply, in the bountiful hands of 
Padre Salva Tierra, lasts but a short time ; and want returns 
upon them with all its horrors. At length the last filthy piece 
of meat is consumed, and they betake themselves, Indians and 
Padres and garrison, to the shores for fish, and to the moun- 
tains for Pitahayas and other fruits and roots. Amidst these 
suiferings occurs a difficulty with the Indians. A soldier by 
the name of Poblano has married one of the Indian converts. 
In the month of June her mother visits her and invites her 
home to the joyful ingathering of the Pitahayas. They go 
away in the night unperceived, and run to the mountains. The 
next morning the soldier pursues them a limited distance, but 
returns imsuccessful. A day or two afterwards, he goes with 
a Californian Indian near a village, where they hear a great 
deal of shouting and merriment. An old Indian, whom they 
meet, advises them to return, because their lives will be en- 
dangered by proceeding. The soldier insults the old man and 
shoots him. The noise of the discharged musket rouses the 
village, and the soldier dies, pierced with arrows. His Indian 



174 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

companion is wounded, but brings to Loretto information of 
this misfortune. 

The Padres of San Xavier return to Loretto, and prepare to 
march in pursuit of the murderers. The Indians, learning 
this movement, gather all their forces and destroy the corn 
' fields of San Xavier, and a few goats, on whose milk the Pa- 
dres are subsisting, during this calamitous famine. The sol- 
diers arrive in time to prevent the destruction of the buildings. 
At length the parties begin to skirmish, and four of the 
Indians are killed. But their numbers and violence increase 
daily. The troops suffer incredible hardship among the preci- 
pices, and breaks of the mountains. Distress and consterna- 
tion are beginning to seize them. Death is looked for as 
inevitable. But they rejoice again; they breathe freely 
again ; a bark comes over the tranquil and heated sea, with 
provisions and a recruit of soldiers ; and runners are sent from 
Loretto to San Xavier, to give all a speedy share of the joy- 
ful news ; they eat and drink again in the Californian missions ! 
The Indians are intimidated by the arrival of fresh troops, 
and submit ; and the grateful Padres give thanks to God in a 
solemn Te Deum for this unexpected deliverance. 

Great anxiety is felt in California for the fate of Padre 
Piccolo. No tidings of him have been received since he left 
the port of Loretto. He has, however, arrived safely at 
Cinaloa, about the first of February, 1702, and sent them 
supplies ; has hastened thence to Guadalaxara and Mexico ; 
by indefatigable exertions has obtained six thousand dollars 
from the Government for the payment of soldiers; and 
having collected charities from a few individuals, has pur- 
chased goods for the relief of the most urgent necessities of 
the missions ; has obtained a guarantee of Don Josef de La 
Puente Marquis de Villa Puente, for the support of three new 
missions ; and from Nicolas de Arteaga, an offer to support 
another ; and from the Government, six hundred dollars per 
annum thereafter ; has secured the appointment of two Padres, 
Juan Manuel de Bassaldua and Geronimo Minutili, as mis- 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNMAS. 175 

«ionaries to California ; and has purchased a vessel at Aca- 
pulco, called Nuestra Senora del Rosario ; has embarked at 
Matanchel with his goods, provisions, his brethren, and some 
artisans, for Loretto. Fine breezes bear them into the Gulf; 
then a tempest swoops down upon them and compels them to 
throw overboard that part of the cargo which is stowed on 
deck ; but helping gales bear them to their destined port, 
on the twenty-eighth of October, 1702. 

And now again the cross is raised before the people ; the 
lofty anthem of thanksgiving swells up the parched moun- 
tain, and every knee bows to God and Senora de Loretto. 
Most of the garrison had been discharged for want of money 
to pay their wages ; few have remained to protect the Pa- 
dres. Joyfully now do they all gather about Padre Piccolo, 
with warm eifusions of thanks for his expedition, and engage 
anew to bear arras, and beseech the mercies of God for the 
missions of California. This reinforcement of troops, arti- 
sans, an<l Padres, and the supplies of provisions and money, 
and the guarantees for the support of four new missions, and 
the promised annuity from the Government, encourage Padre 
Salva Tierra to form higher designs for the enlargement of 
his operations. To effect them in the best manner, he con- 
fers with all the Padres on the best measures ; and the con- 
clusion is, that Padre Ugarte shall go to Senora and procure 
cattle for breeding, and horses and mules for draught and rid- 
ing ; that Padre Minutili shall remain at Loretto with Padre 
Salva Tierra ; and that Padre Bassaldua shall accompany 
Padre Piccolo to San Xavier, Avhere he may learn the Indian 
language, and otherwise prepare himself for future labor. In 
obedience to these determinations. Padre Ugarte sails in the 
beginning of November; but after being absent a few days, 
is driven back by contrary winds. ]n December he sails 
again, and happily arrives at Guaymas, Pimeria, in February 
1703. He reappears at Loretto with a fine quantity of black 
cattle, sheep, horses, mules, and provisions. 

In Mgirch of this year, Padre Salva Tierra re-commences 



176 SCENES IN THE PA,>IFIC. 

exploring the country. He takes with him the Captain and 
some soldiers, ami proceeds to San Xavier, where he is joined 
by Padres Piccolo and Bassaldua. Thence they travel with 
great difficulty over the thirsty mountains to the Pacific, and 
search the coast far northward for a harbor, fresh water, and 
tillable land. None is found which will shelter ships from 
the prevailing winds. Some land, with a good soil, is dis- 
covered ; but the absence of water for irrigation renders it 
useless. By going south, however, they fall upon the Httle 
river San Xavier. Here they find a few Indians who, after run- 
ning away, are persuaded to show themselves friends. On 
their return these Padres pass two rancherias, the inhabitants 
of which they induce to move nearer to Loretto. This jour- 
ney proves fruitless. They have discovered no suitable place 
for the establishment of a new mission. In May, they 
make another, in search of a river emptying into the sea 
one hundred and twenty miles north of Loretto. Having ar- 
rived near Concepcion Bay, they fall in with a large ranche- 
ria of Indians, who seize their bows and arrows and come 
out to destroy them. The Californian Indians, however, who 
are acting as guides to the Padres, explain the benevolent 
object of their visit; and all are received as friends, and 
treated with the kindest hospitality. These Indians inform 
the Padres of a large tract of crags and abysses lying be- 
tween them and the river that they seek, which it is impos- 
sible to pass, and they return to Loretto. 

A dismal misfortune now falls on California. Some Indi- 
ans arrive at Loretto full of fright and sorrow, from whom the 
Padres learn that the wretch who formed the last conspiracy, 
the murderer of the soldier Poblano, and incendiary of the 
mission of San Xavier, has fomented discontent, assembled 
the rancherias, and massacred all the adult converts at San 
Xavier, except the few who have escaped to Loretto. This 
sad news determines the Padres and the Captain to punish 
those factious individuals, in such a manner as to prevent such 
outrages in future. Accordingly the Captain and soldiers fall 



TRAVELS IN THE CA.LIF0RN-A8 177 

on the conspirators at night, kill a few, amonjr whom is one 
of the most active in the massacre ; but the leader escapes. 
The Captain, however, declares he shall die. But the rough- 
ness of the country prevents pursuit. Another means of 
arresting him is adopted. The Indians are told that they 
shall never have peace until they surrender this chief of vil- 
lains, and in a few days he is brought into the mission of San 
Xavier A court-maitial is now called, and the culprit ar- 
raigned, tried, and condemned to death ! The Padres inter- 
fere to save him. But the Captain will not yield. The pri- 
soner confesses that he intended to destroy all the converts 
and the Padres ; that he has burnt the chapel and the images ; 
that he has had a chief hand in the murder of Poblano ; that 
he has been inducing the Indian women to marry the soldiers, 
in order to have more killed in the same manner ; and the 
Captain will not release him from the punishment which he 
deserves for such terrible acts and intentions. All the Padres, 
therefore, gather at San Xavier to attend the last hours of the 
miserable man. They teach him to look at the fearful scenes 
which will break on him when the spirit's eyes open on eter- 
nity ; exhort him to kiss the cross of redemption and lift his 
love to him who bled upon it for sins like his. He is taken 
to the plain in chains, blinded, made to kneel down and is 
shot ! This is the first execution for a capital crime in Cali- 
fornia. Its influence is salutary. The Indians become peace- 
able, and regular in their duties. 

The Padres make use of restored peace in exploring the 
country to find sites for new missions. The river Mulege, at 
the north, is visited by Padres Piccolo and Bassaldua in the 
bark San Xavier. They find arable land on its banks, a 
league in width, which appears suitable for a mission station. 
They therefore proceed to Senora to obtain riding animals 
wherewith to explore the southern shore for a land route to 
Loi'etto. Having returned, they descend the coast a few 
leagues, where a range of dry volcanic heights arrests their 
progress, and compels them to abandon their design, and re- 



178 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

embark for Loretto in the San Xavier. On their way, they 
put into Concepcion Bay which lies south of the opposing 
Mountains ; send the bark to Guaymas for supplies ; go by 
land along a path partially cleared by the preceding expedi- 
tion ; arrive at a valley which they call San Juan de Londo, 
where they meet Padre Salva Tierra; and thence pro- 
ceed in great haste to Loretto. Misfortune calls for their 
sympathy. 

An ordinance has been issued by the Viceroy at Mexico, 
prohibiting any one from engaging in fishing for, or trading 
in, pearls, on the Californian coast, without a license from the 
Government, countersigned by the military commandant at 
Loretto. The object of this regulation is to prevent avari- 
cious individuals from drawing the Indians away from the 
missions ; an evil which the Padres have long endeavored to 
extirpate. But notwithstanding this regulation, two vessels 
have come upon the coast without license, and are fishing off 
Loretto, when a tempest breaks them from their moorings and 
strands them in the bay. The crew of one of them, seventy 
in number, are saved, and fourteen of the other succeed in 
gaining the shore. These eighty odd men the Padres clothe 
and feed a whole month, — the time required to get their ships 
off and repair them, — when the one with seventy souls sails for 
Mexico. This unexpected draught upon the small stores of 
the missions bears so heavily upon them, that the arrival ot 
Padre Piccolo from Senora, with the bark partially laden with 
provisions, barely saves them from starvation. Near the 
close of the year the twelve survivors of the other crew are 
taken to the continent by Padre Minutili, who has been 
appointed to the missions at Tibutama. But their presence 
for so long a time at the garrison has greatly increased the 
sufferings of all the stations. It is now 1704, the seventh 
year of the religious conquest of California. It seems to be 
the last of the missions. The Padres have labored inces- 
santly. Many of the natives have been baptized, and are 
becoming accustomed to labor. The lands are somewhat 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 179 

productive, and the manufacture of cloth is considerably ad- 
vanced. Their attendance on the ordinances of religion 
gratifies the Padres, and civilisation seems to be taking root 
among these savages. But as the converts increase, the num- 
ber of persons to be fed and clad are multiplied. And as the 
necessities of these grow, the hopes of a proper supply be- 
come more precarious. The vessel in which grains are to be 
brought from the opposite coast requires overhauling before 
she can put to sea. Without her the money for the pay- 
ment of the garrison cannot be obtained from Mexico. But 
as the Padres have no means of repairing her, Padre Bassal- 
dua, for life or death, sails in her towards Mexico, and Padre 
Piccolo, with equal self-devotion, embarks for Senora in the 
leaky and shattered bark San Xavier. 

The mission of San Josef, on the continent, has been an- 
nexed to the Californian missions, in order that the Padres 
may use its resources for a uniform supply of provisions and 
animals. The brave Padre Piccolo is passing now between 
this station and Loretto, with all possible speed and activity. 
But the little provisions he is able to collect, ill suffice the wants 
in California. And as this little is often spoiled in the leaky 
boat before its arrival, starvation is again expected at Loretto. 
Meantime Padre Bassaldua arrives on the coast of Mexico with 
his creaking, leaky vessel ; proceeds to Guadalaxara and Mexi- 
co ; urges the execution of the Royal Orders for the support 
of the mission. ; is unsuccessful ; collects enough to repair his 
vessel ; procures a small supply of necessaries from benevo- 
lent individuals ; sails in company with Padre Pedro Ugarte, 
who has been appointed to fill the place of Padre Piccolo, 
and in the latter part of June rounds into the bay of Loretto, 
to add to the number of the desponding and starving ! The 
Padres send the vessel and the bark to the continent for pro- 
visions. But the shattered condition of these craft, and the 
northwest gales, twice oblige them to put back empty. And 
when at last they succeed in making the voyage, little relief 
comes of it. There is a want of every necessary of lite 



180 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC 

among the Padres and soldiers. The latter complain that 
their certificates of services sent to Mexico have not been 
honored ; and the former see that some decided step must be 
taken either for the salvation or abandonment of the missions. 
Padre Salva Tierra calls together the Padres and the Cap- 
tain, and another officer of the garrison, to deliberate, and 
informs them that they can expect no speedy relief from 
their friends at Mexico ; that he cannot more clearly depict 
the melancholy condition of their affairs than their common 
sufferings do ; that he is summoned to Mexico to confer 
concerning the execution of the Royal Orders for the relief of 
the missions ; but that he will not leave California until the mis- 
sions are either relieved or destroyed. He desires, however, 
that others will fully deliberate, and freely determine whether 
they shall all remain there, and suffer for the glory of God, or 
go to Mexico, and await a more favorable juncture for renew- 
ing the conquest. He himself is ready to eat the wild fruits, 
and in other respects fare as the converts do, rather than 
abandon them. Padre Ugarte opposes leaving the country. 
Padres Piccolo, Pedro Ugarte and Bassaldua agree with him : 
and the Captain declares that he is astonished to hear a pro- 
position of the kind ; that he will solemnly protest against 
the Padres, if they should abandon the conquest. Neverthe- 
less, notice is given to the people, that w^hoever will, may 
embark in the vessel going to Mexico, and that bills shall be 
given them for the arrears of their wages. But instead of 
embracing the offer, they all refuse to leave the Padres. The 
fear of an insurrection among the soldiers on account of the 
non-payment of wages and want of food being removed, 
the Padres dispatch the vessel and the bark to Guaymas for 
supplies. While they are waiting for these. Padre Ugarte 
sets an example of patience and fortitude. He goes into the 
mountains and woodlands, gathers the wild fruits and digs 
edible roots, reminds his spiritual children of the death in 
Canaan, and God's goodness to Jacob — while the soldiers 
and officers vie with the good man in all his works of love. 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 181 

The Padres do not abandon their determination to found 
the other missions, for which funds have been promised. 
With this design in view, and also to bring new matters of 
interest to the minds of the distressed people. Padres Salva 
TiERRA and Pedro Ugarte visit the district of Ligui, lying on 
the coast south of Loretto. A single soldier and two Indians 
accompany them. As they approach the village, many In- 
dians rush from an ambush and begin to fire their arrows at 
them with great fury. The soldier, Francisco Xavier Va- 
lenzuela, draws his scimitar and brandishes it briskly in the 
sun with one hand, while with the other he fires his mus- 
ketoon in the air. These movements so frighten the savages 
that they throw their weapons and themselves on the ground, 
and allow the whites to approach them. The two Indians 
interpret for Padre Salva Tierra. He assures them that he 
comes only to do them good; that he has brought Padre 
Ugarte to live with them as a father, who will lead them to a 
happy futurity. On hearing this, they affectionately embrace 
Padre Salva Tierra, and bid their wives and children to 
come from their hiding-places. The Indians are sad that the 
Padres do not remain longer with them, and can only be 
comforted by a strong promise that Padre Ugarte will soon 
return. They baptize forty-eight of the children, and depart 
for Loretto. 

In the month of August, of this year, the vessel and bark 
return from Guaymas with provisions. Close upon this happy 
event, follows another, which causes much grief to the Padres 
and the Indians. Padre Salva Tierra is appointed visitor to 
tb*^ missions of Cinaloa and Senora. The prospect of losing 
the society and fatherly love of this great and good man, 
causes deep sorrow among all ranks. He is also called to 
Mexico by order of the Viceroy, to attend an assembly to 
be soon convened by command of his Sovereign, in which the 
propriety and possibility of executing certain royal orders 
con( erning the conquest and settlement of California are to 
be discussed. Before he departs, he consecrates the new 



1S2 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

church at Loretto, and appoints to the command of the garri^ 
son, Juan Baptiste Escalante, a distinguished warrior, against 
the Apaches on the Gila, and Nicolas Marques, as Lieutenant, 
to till respectively the places of the worthy Captain Estevan 
Lorenzo and Ensign Isidro, who, to the sorrow of the Pa- 
dres, have resigned their posts on account of some bitter feel- 
ings towards them among the soldiers 

These matters being settled to the satisfaction of all parties, 
he appoints Padrfe Juan Ugarte to the supreme government of 
the garrison and missions, and on the first of October sails for 
the continent. He goes to Guadalaxara, confers with the Audi- 
encia of that department, passes on to Mexico, and finds him- 
self appointed Provincial of New Spain, and missionary of 
California. The good Padre, overwhelmed w^ith this unex- 
pected distinction, urges, w^ith sincerity and zeal, his unfitness 
for the office, and his desire to labor and die a simple mis- 
sionary among his Californian Indians. But the Padres assure 
him that the rules of his order wnll not permit hira to decline; 
and persuade him, that under so good a man as Provincial, 
the church will cheerfully further his pious desires for the 
conversion of the Indians of California. The Padre Juan 
Maria de Salva Tierra, therefore, in hope of bettering the 
condition of his converts in that forlorn wilderness, enters 
upon the duties of Provinical Bishop of New Spain. 

Padre Salva Tierra in his official character communicates 
with the Viceroy, and lays before him his views of the proper 
measures of his Government for the furtherance of the mis- 
sionary enterprise in the territories under his charge. He 
states, generally, the advances of the Spiniah power in those 
vast realms by means of the Jesuits, aiui that .n order to hold 
these conquests, the power by which they have been obtained 
must still be exercised. The honor and benefit of the Crown 
and of the Catholic Church demand this of his Excellency's 
Government. He is favorably heard, and all classes of peo- 
ple second his views. But the delay and selfishness which 
^^'^e ever characterized the Spanish power in America and 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNiAS 183 

elsewhere press on the track of the good Padre, and he is 
tbrced to leave Mexico on a visit to the churches of his Dio- 
cese, without any decided assurances that his views will be 
acted on. The poverty of the Crown, while half the world is 
diiJjging gold and silver for its coifers, is an additional cavise of 
this inaction. 

We next find Padre Salva Tierra, in 1705, appealing to 
the Jesuit College and the Audiencia of Guadalaxara, to suc- 
cor the missions. Soon after this he lands at El Mission del 
Nuestra Senora de Loretto, amid the general joy of the Pa- 
dres, soldiers and Indians. To the latter, particularly, he has 
been a father ; and they dance and shout around him in an 
ecstacy of gladness to see again his grey head and benevo- 
lent face. 

The Padre finds his brethren in great wretchedness, but full 
of unwavering determination to carry forward the work which 
he has so valorously begun. Padre Piccolo, who has been ap- 
pointed visitor of the missions of Senora, in order that he may 
have authority and opportunity to draw provisions more regu- 
larly for those of California, has been forwarding at intervals 
whatever he could gather from those poor establishments. 
But this has been sufficient only to prevent starvation or the 
abandonment of the country. However, the missions still 
exist, and the venerable Padre Salva Tierra is happy. Their 
discomforts have been much increased during his absence by 
the growing tyranny of Capt. Escalante, who has become im- 
patient of his subjection to the Padres, and abusive to the In- 
dians and soldiers. An account of this state of things having 
been forwarded during the Padre's tarry there, he has brought 
with him Don Estevan Rodriguez Lorenzo to supersede Esca- 
lante — an arrangement which results in much satisfaction to 
the missions. 

The Provincial remains two months in California ; but he 
does not excuse himself from his usual arduous labors. His 
new dignity furnishes no pretext for idleness. He bends all 
his energies to the well-being of the natives ; takes measures 



184 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

for the establishment of two new missions ; the one at Ligui 
and the other at the river Mulege. The small number of his 
associates, however, is an obstacle to the accomplishment of 
his wishes. There are but three Padres with him. One of 
these is required at San Xavier, and one at Londo. This dis-" 
tribution will leave but one to take care of the magazines, 
disburse the stores, nurse the sick, and perform the spiritual 
functions at Loretlo — a task which no single man can per- 
form. Accordingly, Jayme Bravo, the lay companion of Pa- 
dre Salva Tierra, is induced to take upon himself the tem- 
poral affairs of the garrison and mission, and thus leave the 
Padres free to pursue their religious labors. This arrange- 
ment being made, the Provincial departs for Mexico about the 
last of November, 1704, and the Padres Pedro Ugarte and 
Juan Manuel de Bassaldua commence the exploration of the 
new stations. The former goes twelve leagues south, to Li- 
gui, and the latter forty leagues north, to the river Muiegej 
while Padre Juan Ugarte takes care of the missions at Loretto 
San Xavier and Londo. 

The Ligui Indians are found to be peaceable, but so ex- 
tremely indolent that the Padre can get no help from them in 
the construction of the mission buildings. His ingenuity and 
patience, however, are equal to his necessities. He feeds the 
boys of the tribe with sweetmeats, makes them small presents, 
and by his paternal address, soon attaches them so strongly 
to his person, that they follow him wherever he goes. He 
resorts to many artifices to habituate them to labor ; lays 
wagers with them on their comparative dexterity in pulling 
up bushes, removing the earth from the sites of the buildings, 
and challenges them to dance with him on the clay of which 
the bricks are to be made. The boys sing and poach the mud 
with their feet, and so does the Padre. And in this w^ay he clears 
his ground and erects the buildings of his mission. He also 
teaches these boys the Spanish language, and they teach their 
own to him. He explains to them the catechism and prayers, 
and they do the same to their parents. Thus, with untiring 




A California Lidian. 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 185 

patience, firmness and labor, does he bring the mission ol San 
Juan Baptista into form, and its Indians under his control 
And not these only ; but going many miles into the woods 
and the breaches of the mountains, he gathers in the wan- 
dering, feeds and clothes them, and teaches them to till the 
ground and live like men. At last he succeeds in humaniz- 
ing the greater portion of these rude people. They call him 
Padre, follow him to the labor of the field, and gather about 
the altar in his humble church to worship. All are industri- 
ous, well-fed, well-clad, and happy. 

As the Padre, however, is felicitating himself on these 
results of his labors, an accident occurs which well nigh ruins 
all. He is called to baptize a sick woman, with whom he 
finds an old sorcerer employed according to their ancient cus- 
toms. The Padre bids him depart, administers extreme unc- 
tion to the woman, remains with her till death, buries her 
according to the forms of the church, and after reprimanding 
severely the converts w^ho have lent their sanction to the jug- 
gler, dismisses them with much indignation. This severity of 
the Padre rouses the sullen fierceness of the Indians to such 
extent that, instigated by the disgraced sorcerer, they form 
the design of murdering him. They use the utmost secrecy, 
and make death the penalty of divulging their purpose. The 
Padre always has a boy sleeping in his apartment ; and when 
at length the night of the massacre comes, this boy desires 
that he may be allowed to spend it with his friends, the Indi- 
ans. The Padre objects ! The boy urges ! The Padre in- 
quires the reason ; and the boy, after much hesitation, tells 
him, " Because, father, this night they are going to kill you !" 

On hearing this, he sends for some of the chief ones, and 
with a resolute and dauntless air tells them, " I know you 
have formed the design to kill me this night. But remember ! 
With this musket I will, when you come, slaughter you all." 
Having said this, he quickly leaves them full of consterna- 
tion at what they have heard. 

Oppiessed with fear, they retire to their associates in the 



186 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

design; consult much, and at last conclude to seek safety 
from the Padre's musket in flight. In the morning their 
lodges are deserted ; not an Ind:«an is in sight of the Mission 
San Juan Baptisla Ligui. On the following day the Padre 
goes out to seek his lost flc^^k. They are found hidden 
away among the cliffs, and flee at his approach. After con- 
siderable parleying, however, they are convinced that the 
Padre seeks their good alone, and return to the mission tho- 
roughly persuaded that he loves them, but can never be made 
to fear them. 

This excellent man continues at his mission, enduring every 
privation, till 1709, when the severe fatigues of years weigh 
him down and compel him to seek health in Mexico. Thither 
he goes in the character of negotiator and procurator of the 
missions. No sooner, however, does he recover his health in 
a tolerable decree, than he returns and resumes his labors. 
But illness again compels him to leave this inhospitable 
shore for the mission at the River Yaqui, on the opposite 
coast, where he makes himself useful as an agent and pur- 
veyor-general for California. 

But let us follow the Padre Juan Manuel Bassaldua to the 
R-iver Mulege. He starts in 1705, and with great diflSculty 
surmounts the crags as far north as Concepcion Bay. Here 
his progress is arrested by hills to all appearances in- 
surmountable. But " trial before despair" is the Padre's 
motto. He fills ravines with rocks, and cuts away the woods; 
and after incredible labor, passes his animals over to Mulege. 

There is a valley near the mouth of this little stream ten 
leagues in length, suitable for tillage. In this, two miles from 
the Gulf, he locates his mission, and consecrates it to Santa 
Rosalia ; builds his dwelling and church of adobies ; remains 
four years ; collects the Indians from all the neighboring set- 
tlements ; instructs them in religion and the useful arts ; and 
so endears himself to them, that when his health fails, and he 
m transferred 1 1 Guaymas, the poor savages find it difficult to 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 187 

discover in his successor, the excellent Padre Piccolo, his 
equal in kindness and active benevolence. 

Padre Piccolo exerts in this new field all his well-tried en- 
ergies. Besides his labors as a spiritual teacher, he travels 
into the interior several times in search of proper sites for 
new settlements, and discovers those places which are after- 
wards occupied by the missions of Guadaloupe, La Purissima 
Concepcion, and San Ignacio. In the year 1718 he surren- 
ders his charge to Padre Sebastian de Sistiaga. This Padre 
digs trenches to convey the waters of the river over the 
fields, and in other ways improves the facilities for training 
those active and intelligent children of the desert to the habits 
of a better life. 

On the sixth of November, 1706, Padre Piccolo, three sol- 
diers, and some Mulege Indians, with two asses bearing their 
provisions, journey westward towards the country of the North 
Cochimes, which is called Cada Kaaman, or Sedge Brook. 
It lies on the skirts of the mountains, thirty-five leagues, by 
the vales, from Santa Rosalia. On the third day he is met 
by a whole settlement of Indians, in a valley which, on a 
former visit, he has named Santa Aguida. These poor peo- 
ple express great joy at seeing the Padre again, and follow 
him to the neighboring rancherias, called Santa Lucia and 
Santa Nympha. In these places also he is greeted most 
kindly, and desired to remain. On the nineteenth of Novem- 
ber he arrives at the head springs of the brook which waters 
the vale. Here he finds three considerable neighborhoods of 
savages, who welcome his coming with feastings, dances, and 
songs, in which those from Santa Lucia and Santa Nympha 
join with exceeding delight. He remains at this place until 
December, comforting and teaching them. A large arbor is 
built by the willing Indians, in which mass is celebrated. The 
neighboring villagers forsake their homes to attend upon the 
Padre's instructions. Fifty mothers eagerly offer their child- 
ren in baptism. And now he departs, followed by a large 
crowd of people, who mourn that he leaves them j and pre* 



J8S SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

ceded by others who shout their gladness among the parched 
hills, that he journeys towards their villages. They clear the 
path before him of stones and other obstacles ; present him 
with strings of wild fruit to eat ; and bring him water from 
the stream to drink. 

While these new missions are in progress, the old ones, at 
Loretto, San Xavier, and Londo, are slowly advancing in com- 
fort and usefulness. Nor are the Padres in charge of them 
idle in making explorations for other establishments. 

In 1706 Jayme Bravo, in company \vith the Captain, seven 
soljdiers, and some Indians, goes to San Juan Baptista Ligui, 
anJ having felicitated Padre Pedro Ugarte upon the happy 
beginning of his mission, passes along the shore towards the 
south. He has travelled a day and a half, when an Indian 
brings word that four of his soldiers are dying ! Jayme Bravo 
and the Captain return, and find that one of them has found 
a fire where some Indian fishermen have been roasting a spe- 
cies of fish called Botates, the liver of which contains a very 
active poison. This soldier communicates the news of food 
at hand to his fellows, and they hasten to devour it. A 
friendly Indian warns them not to eat. But the soldier who 
first discovered the fire replying, " None of your noise, Indian ; 
a Spaniard never dies," eats plentifully and gives to his com- 
panions. One of them chews and swallows a little ; another 
chev/s, but does not swallow ; the other merely handles and 
views the fish. Well would it have been if they had regarded 
the caution of the Indian : for in a very short time they are 
all seized with convulsive pains more or less violent, accord- 
ing to the use they have made of the fish. The first expires 
in half an hour. He is soon followed by the second ! The 
third, who merely chewed the fish, remains insensible till the 
following morning ! The man who only handled them is 
in a very bad condition for several days. This misfortune 
obliges the explorers to abandon their enterprise. They re- 
turn to Ligui to bury the dead in the consecrated grounds of 
the mission, and send their sick to Loretto. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Fa Ire Juan Ugarte and Jayme Bravo explore the Pacific Coast — Dearth 
— Thirst — Padre Salva TiEtiRA — A Tempest— Landing at Loretto— 
San Josef— Wrecked — Padre Salva Tierra goes to the Rescue — En- 
ergy — Suffering — Die by Thousands — Wrecked — At Sea in a Long- 
boat — The Limit of Despair — They toil on — The Guaycuros— Massa- 
cre — San Ignacio — Padre Salva Tierra leaves California — Death of a 
Hero at Guadalaxara. 

Meantime Padre Juan Ugarte prepares to reconnoitre the 
coast of the Pacific. The chief of the Yaqui nation waits on 
him with forty of his warriors. The Captain, with twelve sol- 
diers and some converts, is at his command for the same duty ; 
the beasts and provisions for the journey are ready ; and Padre 
Juan Ugarte and the layman Bravo, on the twenty-sixth of 
November, 1706, leave Loretto, with their troops and pack 
animals divided into three companies, on their wearisome way 
over the western mountains. Their march lies through the 
Mission of San Xavier and the Indian village called Santa 
Rosalia, and from that point passes over the dry and herb- 
less waste of heights and vales to the sea. Here they meet 
several hundred Guaycuros, who are friendly to them. Thence 
they march southward many leagues, and find no water in all 
the distance except in little wells dug by the Indians. They 
then turn their course to the north. They march all day over 
burning sands, famishing with thirst, and halt at night near the 
channel of a dry rivulet. Thence they send men a few leagues 
farther up the shore, and others up and down the thirsty 
channel, in quest of water. They all return to camp with- 
out success. Next they disperse themselves in every direc- 
tion to find a plat of low ground where they may dig wells, 
but find none. As a last resource, they now let loose their 



190 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

animals, that they may, by their powerful instincts, find means 
of quenching their thirst ; but all these contrivances are vain. 
They kindle a fire to keep themselves warm, and, weary and 
famishing, stretch themselves on the sand for the night. 

In the morning Padre Ugarte greets the rising sun with the 
services of Mass ; and while they sing the " Litany de Seno- 
ra de Loretto," an Indian calls out in the language of his 
people that he has found water ! With solemn gratitude they 
dig into the oozing soil; they obtain a supply for themselves 
and their animals ; and having filled several vessels to serve 
them on their return, offer a service of thanksgiving to the 
Virgin, and commence their journey to Loretto. 

While the Padres are thus employed in establishing mis- 
sions and exploring California, Padre Salva Tierra is ear- 
nestly petitioning the Pope to discharge him from the office of 
Provincial Bishop of New Spain. He desires to spend his 
declining years among the Indians of California. In 1706 
his discharge comes ; and with inexpressible pleasure does 
the good old man collect supplies of clothing, provisions 
and ammunition, for the mission. He is joined by two other 
Padres, Julian de Mayorga and Rolandegui. To their 
care he commits the stores, with directions to repair to the har- 
bor of Matanchel and await the arrival of the bark w^hich is 
to take them to the peninsula. The Padre himself goes by 
land four hundred leagues along the coast to the harbor of 
Akomi in Senora, for the purpose of collecting free contribu- 
tions from the missions in the regions through which he jour- 
neys. 

About the first of January he sails for Loretto. He has a 
long tempestuous voyage. "This night," says he, "the 
thirty-first of January, was extremely dark. We were with 
the mast lashed, and without a rudder ; and amidst rocks and 
islands ; the sea continually making a free passage over us ; 
the sailors spent with toil and hunger, having been without 
food for a day and a half, were prostrate, giving up all for 
lost. The least damage we could expect was to be driven 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 191 

into the sea of Gallicia or Acapulco. * Tnstissima noctis 
imago.'' The Californians got about me like chickens, and 
they were not my least confidants, as being new-born sons of 
the Great Madonna, and had run this risk in her service. Af- 
ter all my journeyings and voyages, I never knew what dan- 
gers or distresses by land or sea were, until now." They are 
driven by this horrible tempest into the bay of San Josef, thirty 
miles south of Loretto. On the third of February, the storm 
abating, they run up to the desired haven, and are received 
with universal gladness. 

In 1708, Padres Salva Tierra and Juan Ugarte go with 
Padre Mayorga into the midst of the mountains to an Indi m 
settlement called Comondu, and invest him with a mission 
there under the name of San Josef; and after having aided 
him in gathering the Indians, building a chapel, and some 
bough huts, they return to Loretto. Padre Mayorga forms 
some neio-hborino; Indians into two towns which he calls San 
Juan and San Ignacio ; builds a fine church at the former 
place ; opens a school for boys at his own house ; erects a 
seminary for girls ; builds a hospital for the sick ; prepares 
maize fields at San Josef, and plants vineyards at San Juan 
and San Ignacio. 

Many other fertile spots are discovered among the deserts 
of California, soon after Salva Tierra's arrival, suitable for 
the establishment of missions. But misfortunes by sea and 
land retard their occupancy. The following is an instance of 
this kind. The bark San Xavier sails from Loretto in August, 
1709, with $3,000 in specie, to purchase a supply of pro- 
visions in Senora. A storm of three days' continuance drives 
it on a barren coast, north of Guaymas, where it is stranded 
amonof the sands and rocks. Some are drowned ; others save 
themselves in the boat. Hostile Indians, called Seris and 
Tepocas, fall upon those who escape and drive them to sea in 
the open boat ; dig up the $3,000 which they have hidden in 
the sands ; take the helm from the bark, and partly break it 
in pieces for the nails. The crew in the boat encounter very 



192 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC 

many dangers in their perilous voyage to the south. Storms 
overtake them. Their boat becomes leaky. They have no 
water. They live, however, to reach the river Yaqui, sixty 
leagues from the wreck. From this place a pearl-fisher's 
bai'k is sent to Loretto with an account of these disasters : 
Padre Salva Tierra hastens over in the Rosalia to Guaymas ; 
sends her to a port near the scene of the shipwreck ; dis- 
patches the bark San Xavier to the vessel, while he himself, 
attended by fourteen Yaqui Indians, passes up the rugged 
coast by land ; is two days without a drop of water; and at 
last arrives at the wreck. The San Xavier's men are merely 
sustaining life on boiled herbs. He sends to the nearest mis- 
sion for food by an Indian, who succeeds in passing through 
the hostile Seris and Tepocas, with a small supply. This 
does not suffice. Death is near them, when the indefatigable 
Padre determines to journey through bands of murderous sav- 
ages to the harbor of San Juan Baptista for help ! 

He has not travelled far along the coast when he arrives at 
a settlement of Indians, who come out against him under arms. 
They are led by an old man, who urges them on with terrible 
vociferations. Nothing less fearful than death seems promised 
in their present situation. But the Padre, with his usual in- 
trepidity, advancing alone towards them, makes some small 
presents to the old man and his son, which, accompanied by 
signs and kind gestures, soften their ferocity a little, when to 
their surprise and joy they hear the guns of the Rosalia ! The 
explosion of these cannon is new to the Indians they 
think it the voice of avenging gods — they immediately run 
away and bring to the Padre food, and $3,000 which haj 
been taken from its place near the wreck. The Padre thiis 
unexpectedly recovers his lost money, and the means of con- 
tinuing the lives of himself and men. 

The Rosalia anchors near the disabled San Xavier ; and 
the provisions on board for a time relieve the distressed work- 
men, seamen and Padres. But as two months are consume^ 
in refitting the wreck, they are again often in want The 




Father Salva Tierra goes alone to meet the Indians.— -F. 192 






TRAVELS IN THE CaLIFORNIAS 193 

missions of the region afford them occasional aid ; but the 
dearth which has pervaded the country during this year, so far 
disables these establishments from furnishing adequate supplies, 
that Padre Salva Tierra sends a messenger to the distant 
mission garrison, ninety miles up the country, called Nuestra 
Sennora de Gaudalupe, begging the Captain Don Francisco 
Xavier Valenzuela to send them food. This excellent man 
immediately despatches what succors he can command ; and 
soon after comes in person with some of his men and a mor* 
liberal supply. 

When he arrives, such is the distressed condition of the 
Padre and those with him, that this commander and his vete- 
rans seat themselves on the beach and weep. After a con- 
tinual repetition of trials like these, during two sultry months, 
the San Xavier is afloat, and the brave Padre sails his vessel 
to the Californian coast ; visits the Padre Piccolo at Santa 
Rosalia Mulege, and encouraging that lonely priest in the 
prosecution of his holy labors, drops down to Loretto. Soon 
after his arrival the small pox, that exterminator of the In- 
dian race, sw^eeps away the greater part of the children and 
many adults, in all the missions. The garrison also suffers 
very much from irregularity of diet consequent upon the pre- 
carious means of supply, and the necessity of living in that 
sultry climate, on salt meat and maize. All these sicknesses 
and deaths the Indians attribute to the Padres. Their children, 
say they, are killed by baptism ; the adults with the extreme 
unction ; and the soldiers are made sick by continual expo- 
sure to the malign influence of prayers, masses and the exalt- 
ation of the Host. These suggestions are raised by their old 
sorcerers, and threaten to embitter the Indians fatally against 
the Padres. But the neophytes stand by their Priests, and 
convince their countrymen of their error. 

From 1709 to 1711, a famine spreads over the entire Mexi- 
can Territories, and California consequently obtains no sup- 
plies from that source. The distress of these years is so iS 
eeedingly gr©tit, that the Indian neophytes betake themseh«B 



194 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC 

to the mountains, and live on roots and wild fruits : while the 
soldiers of the garrison eat herbs with the self-denying Padres : 
and to complete the misfortunes of this devoted country, two 
barks used in bringing a little food from Senora, are cast 
away. 

In 1711, Padre Salva Tierra sends Padre Francisco Peralta, 
who arrived in California two years before, to Matanchel to 
repair the old Rosario. But the frauds practised by the work- 
men consume many thousands of dollars, and make the bark 
so miserable a thing, that in its first effort at sailing it runs 
ashore in spite of the helm, and is u^erly lost. They now 
build a new one, at an expense of $22,000. In this, then, 
laden wdth supphes, they put to sea. But a storm rising, the 
ill-built craft proves to be unmanageable, tlie sport of the 
waves and w^inds. She is driven to Cape San Lucas and 
back again to the isles of Mazatlan. Here some of the sailors 
forsake her; others remain onboard, and after many difficul- 
ties, take her in sight of the coast of Loretto. A storm now 
drives her ashore on the opposite coast. It is the eighth ot 
December. The night is terribly dark and tempestuoi»e 
Four seamen clear away the small boat, and regardless of the 
lives of the others, shove off. Those who are kft hang to 
the main and mizen masts surging in the seas ! Padre Bensto 
Guisi and six seamen are drowned. Padres Guillen and 
Doye, and twenty others, with the greatest difficulty, un- 
lash the long-boat, bail out the water with two calabashes, 
and throwing aboard a piece of an old sail and some bits ot 
boards for oars, commit themselves to the mercy of the waves 
In the morning they find themselves several leagues from land. 
They row down the coast a day and a half, and after a bois- 
terous night land three hundred miles south of Guaymas. 
Eighteen persons, naked, wet, pierced with cold, exhausted 
with rowing, without food or water, with the single comfort 
of having escaped death in the sea, land on a barren waste 
interspersed with fertile tracts overrun with briars and bram- 
bles They gather oysters, 'i'llts and herbs to cat, anrl 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 195 

march into the interior to find inhabitants. As they break 
their way, the brambles and briars lacerate their naked bodies. 
Two days of agony from this cause and from hunger and 
thirst, bring them into an open plain, w^here they are found by 
Indians. These they induce to give information of their pre- 
sence and sufferings, to the commander of the town Tamasula, 
who visits them with horses, water and maize cakes, for their 
relief. 

From this town they go to Guazave, the nearest mission \u 
Cinaloa, where they fortunately find Padre Francisco Maza- 
regos. This lesuiv Missionary entertains them in the most 
liberal manner. The briars of the rugged path over which 
they travelled, have torn their clothing from their backs ; 
and this holy man calls upon hif; Indian converts to contribute 
of their means, wliile he himself bestows his own wardrobe, 
to clothe the naked sufferers. 

Having been refreshed by rest and food, and once more 
clad, they leave the hospitable Padre of Guazave for the town 
of Cinaloa. Here also they are generously entertained by 
Padre Juan Yrazoqui, until each departs to his appointed sta- 
tion. Padre Guillen is roused instead of discouraged, by 
these hardships. Like all those great spirits who are sowing 
the gospel on the deserts of California, his sinews become the 
stronger as they are worn by hardship. He travels over the 
deserts to the missions at Yaqui, and in the month of January, 
1714, sails to California in the good old San Xavier. 

The missions are again entirely dependent upon this bark 
for the transport of supplies; the loss in New Rosario, of 
the commodities and clothing, on which the Padres, seamen, 
and soldiers depend to sustain life, no money left, no clothing, 
no food, the only sea-craft in their possession unseaworthy, 
and no means of repairing her, on a desert land and among 
hostile Indians kept in subjection chiefly by the supply ot 
their physical wants, now impossible to be done, are the dis« 
couraging circumstances which weigh on the heavy hearts of 
the Padres But who shall set bounds to the power of mora! 



196 SCENES N THE PACIFIC. 

motive, when linked with zeal drawn from faith in God ? 
These Padres look for death, but they desire to die, sickle in 
hand, reaping the harvests of redemption! They toil on; 
they gather wandering Indians into towns ; instruct them, 
thirsting and starving a part of each day, and spending the 
remainder among the mountains and forests, gathering here 
and there a dried root, or a bunch of wild fruit, to eat. 

Padre Ugarte is even not content with these labors, but 
makes exploring tours among the Indian settlements south of 
San Xavier. Wherever he goes they throng his way, ask for 
the baptism of their children and the establishment of missions 
among them. It is 1712, and Padre Piccolo, though in bad 
health, imitates the zeal of Padre Ugarte. "With the Captain, 
a few soldiers and Indians, he travels westward from Santa 
Rosalia Mulege, crosses the mountains of Vajademin, finds 
beyond them a small clear brook ; follows it to the sea, ex- 
amines the barren coast about its mouth, ascends a little 
stream about twenty miles ; erects a cross and devotes the 
neighboring grounds to a contemplated mission. While he 
remains here many hundred Indians come in from the neigh- 
boring settlements, beseeching the Padre to remain with them, 
and as an inducement to do so, promise to give him their best 
wild fruits and feathers, and devote their children to the 
Catholic faith. He agrees to send them a Padre to instruct 
them more fully in religion, and returns to his station. 

The vessels used by the people of the opposite coast in 
fishing for pearls bring a scanty supply of provisions. The 
Padre and people clothe themselves in the skins of wild 
beasts, and continue their labors. In the year 1716, Padre 
Salva Tierra sails south in a brigantine called Guadalupe, 
to La Paz, in order to make peace with, the Guaycuros, who 
still retain an unfavorable remembrance of Admiral Otondo's 
ill-advised conduct, and the constantly repeated injuries of the 
r>earl fishermen. He is accompanied by three Guaycuri 
prisoners taken from the pearl fishers, whom he is carry* 
mg back to their homes 



TRAVELS' IN THE CALIFCRNIAS. 197 

When he enters La Paz bay the Loretto Indians leap over- 
board and swim ashore ; the Padre, Captain and soldiers fol- 
low hastily in their boats ; but do not arrive in time to 
prevent the Loretto tribe from such warlike demonstrations as 
put the Guaycuros to flight. They flee, leaving their wive^ 
and children to follow after at a slower pace. The Lorettc 
Lidians do not regard the orders of Padre Salva Tierra 
but led by savage impulse, fall upon the hapless women anc 
children. These attempt to defend themselves with stones. 
But they must have perished had not the Captain and the 
nimblest of the soldiers arrived at the commencement of the 
infamous encounter. The unoffending creatures are saved 3 
and wailing horribly, follow their cowardly fathers and hus- 
bands. 

This unfortunate event tries exceedingly the good Padre 
Salva Tierra. He sorrows that his benevolent designs should 
terminate in an outrage upon those whom he comes to cherish. 
But it is apparent that this rashness of the Loretto Indians 
renders useless any attempts at friendly connections with the 
Guaycuros. He therefore distributes to the prisoners from 
the pearlfishers' vessels, some agreeable presents, explains to 
them, that his object in visiting their countrymen was to re- 
store themselves to their homes, and enter into friendly rela- 
tions with the Guaycuros nation, and dismisses them with 
such other marks of his good intentions as will open a proba- 
bility of successful negotiation with their countrymen on 
anolher occasion. He returns to Loretto with a heavy heart : 
and sends the brigantine to Matanchel for goods and pro- 
visions. A furious storm strands it ; the vessel and cargo are 
a total loss; and nine persons are drowned. Thus death 
again thins the ranks of the Californian missions ; want and 
nakedness stalk among them ; and the old San Xavier, after 
eighteen years' service, is the only sea craft connecting them 
with the continent and with life. Amidst all these difficulties, 
however, the untiring Padres found the mission of San Igna- 
ci« i« the Cada Kaaman, or the vale of the Sedge Brook. 



198 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC 

It is now eighteen years since Padre Salva Tierra landed 
in California and erected the cross at Loretto. His labors 
have been arduous and unremitted. His trials by shipwreck 
and tempests, by progresses over mountains and deserts, by 
hunger and thirst, by arrows and Indian knives, by endu- 
rances of all kinds, have whitened his hair, withered his 
bones and muscles, made his steps unstable and his head 
tremble at the throbs of his heart. He feels that the holy 
water must soon fall on his coffin lid, and California be de- 
prived of his services. It is the year 1717. He is at Loretto, 
with little to eat, and badly clad, and scarcely able to walk 
or stand. But he teaches the children — exhorts the adults to 
the service of God, and superintends every particular move- 
ment of the garrison and the mission. In March, Padre 
Nicholas Tamaral, appointed to the proposed mission of La 
Purissima, arrives at Loretto, bringing letters from the reign- 
in o- Viceroy of Mexico, in which among other matters it is 
stated that the King has forwarded important instructions rela- 
tive to advancing most efficiently the spiritual conquest of 
California, together with a summons that Padre Salva Tierra 
shall immediately repair to Mexico to aid in devising the best 
means of effecting that object. Disease, pain, want and 
danger present no obstacles to this aged Patriarch, when the 
interest of his missions calls upon him for action. He im- 
mediately determines to go to Mexico. Accordingly the 
government of California is committed to the wisdom of Padre 
Ugarte, and on the 31st of the same month of March, the 
good Padre and Jayme Bravo sail for Matanchel. 

Nine days' passage brings them to the desired port ; they 
take mules for Tepic ; the good Padre suffers greatly at 
every misstep of his animal ; they arrive at Tepic ; the Pa 
dre is in extreme torture ; but tortures cannot deter him fron 
his holy labors ; he is too weak and too much racked witi 
pain to mount a horse or mule, and is therefore borne in 
litter on the shoulders of Indians, to Guadalaxara. Here his 
illness increases so that he can proceed no farther. He is 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 19S 

lodged in the college of Jesuits. The Padres are in attend- 
ance upon him. Two months of agony wear toward a close ; 
and death begins to chill his limbs, glaze his eyes, and chain 
his utterance : and when he can no longer stir, he calls to him 
his faithful companion, J ay me Bravo, and in the most earnest 
manner, giving him instruction and powers for acting in his 
stead at Mexico, commends him and his beloved missions to 
the guardianship of Heaven. And now a hero dies ! Not 
one who has swung the brand of war over the villages and 
cities of nations; not one who has crushed the hearts of 
men, yoked them in bondage, and severed every tendril of 
mercy and justice from the governing powers; not such a 
hero as men will worship ; but a great and good man, 
offering life and every capacity of happiness within him 
to the well-being of savages in a barren waste of mountains ; 
a hero in the heavenly armor of righteousness, endur- 
ing fatigue, hunger, thirst, and constant danger among the 
flinty, unwatered wastes of unthinking and uninstructed hu- 
man nature ; a missionary of a Californian wilderness ! 
All the people of the city and neighboring villages crowd to 
the college, and kneel through the streets and alleys, on the 
balconies and roofs of the houses, and pray for the repose of 
the departed soul of Padre Salva Tierra. There is no noise 
in Guadalaxara, nor business ; it is a city of prayer : they 
come one after another and kneel and pray, and silently 
retire ; thirty thousands of people beseech Heaven with one 
earnest desire — that he whom they have loved, he who has 
labored so ardently in propagating the faith, may find a man- 
sion of repose and reward in the upper world ! Some CUi- 
fornian Indians, whom he has brought with him, exhibit 
extraordinary grief; the whole city assists at the interment; 
they bury him in the chapel he has erected many years ago 
to the Virgin of Loretto. And thus end the mortal part and 
mortal deeds of Padre Salva Tierra. But his remembrance 
is written in the imperishable record of those great minds 



200 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

who have conquered nations with the sabre of truth, and led 
them to a more inteUigent and happy condition. 

Jayme Bravo, after the burial of Padre Salva Tierra, pro- 
ceeds to Mexico, lays the condition of the Californian mis- 
sions before the Vice-Royal Council, obtains an appropriation 
of four thousand dollars for the building and equipment of a 
vessel for the mission service, three thousand and twenty-two 
dollars for discharging the debts due at the death of Padre 
Salva Tierra, and eighteen thousand two hundred and 
seventy-five dollars for the pay of the soldiers and sailors. 
While these things are transpiring in Mexico, a terrible hur- 
ricane, accompanied by violent rains, sweeps over Cahfornia. 
Padre Ugarte's house, and the church at Loretto, are levelled 
to the ground ; and the Padre himself stands by the side of a 
rock exposed to the tempest for twenty-four hours. At San 
Xavier, the channels used for irrigating the lands are filled 
with stones, and the water thrown in torrents over the fields. 
Both soil and sprouting crops are carried away. The 
same misfortune occurs at Mulege. The blasts of the tem- 
pests are so terrific at the garrison, that a Spanish boy named 
Matheo, is taken up in one of their gyrations and never seen 
more ! Tornadoes of this kind are frequent in California 
But the Padres have seen none equal to this for violence ard 
continuance. What little soil has been found in the country 
has been dislodged and s#ept into the sea ; the country 
is laid waste ; its rocks are bare ; its plains and vales are £OV« 
ered ^vth heaps of stones. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Padre Bi'avo in Mexico— Return to California — First ship built in North- 
west America — Expedition to the G uay euros— Nuestra Sennora del 
Pilar de la Paz — Founding Nuestra Sennora de Gaudalupe — Burning 
of Idols— A Famine — Locusts — A Pestilence — The Dying — Explo- 
rations by Land and Sea— Indian Country— Dreadful Sufferings- 
Tempests — Water-Spouts — Return of the Explorers. 

Thus stands the condition of the Californian missions in 17 1 1. 
More than five hundred thousand dollars of private benefac- 
tions have been expended upon them ; and the twenty-five 
thousand more lately granted by the government, have been 
invested, and chiefly lost in disasters by sea and land. Now 
the crops are destroyed, and the utter annihilation of these es- 
tablishments is anticipated in the course of the year. 

But Jayme Bravo is in Mexico. He collects a few provi- 
sions and goods, and accompanied by Padre Sebastian de 
Sistiaga in a Peruvian vessel presented to the missions by the 
Viceroy, arrives at Loretto in July, 1718, and gives new 
energy to the missions. The founding of the San Miguel by 
Padre Tamaral, in 29- and odd minutes N. among the moun- 
tains near the Gulf, is one of the features of returning hope. 
Soon after this Padre's arrival at his station, two neighboring 
settlements of Indians are baptised. After this he, with innu- 
merable hardships, crosses the mountains to the settlement of 
the Cadigomo tribe. Here he meets with the Indians from 
the settlements of La Purissima Concepcion, and accompanies 
them home. He finds the soil of their fields washed away by 
the late tempest, but determines to establish the mission La 
Purissima among them. And after years of toil, the zealous 
man builds a parsonage and church, brings several maize 
^elds under cultivation, opens a mule track over the moun- 



fiU2 s(;enes in the pacific. 

tains to Ihe mission of Santa Rosalia, and extends his jurisdic- 
tion over forty settlements, situated within a circuit of ninety 
miles around him. 

Many years ago the Philippine Islands were discovered aid 
settled by Spain. Soon a considerable trace sprung up be- 
tween them and the Spanish possessions in Mexico. Indeed 
the products of the Philippine Islands destined for old Spain, 
are landed at Accapulco, carried across the country on muks, 
and reshipped for Old Spain at the port of Vera Cruz. The 
passage from these islands to the Mexican coast is made, for 
the greater part, through the Chinese seas, to latitude 30*^ N. 
Here voyagers fall in with the variable winds, which take them 
to the American coast, between latitudes 30*^ and 40^ N. At 
this point, during the spring, summer and autumn, they meet 
the northwesterly winds, which drive them down the coast 
to Accapulco. In these early times navigation is imperfectly 
understood. That ocean too is chiefly unknown. Naviga- 
tors are not familiar with its currents, and consequently every 
voyage across its trackless waters is hazardous and prolonged. 
And when they reach the American coast, the crews are sick 
with the scurvy ; and they should land for a supp5y of fresh pro- 
visions. But while no harbor is known, from Cape San Lucas 
to the remote north, at which wood, water and other necessary 
relief can be had, the ships are obliged to keep down the coast 
\o Mazatlan, Accapulco, or some other port, before they make 
their first landing, after leaving the East Indies ; a distance of 
more than eleven thousand miles. And when they arrive at 
these ports, it frequently happens that nearly all the crew are 
irrecoverably diseased, or dead. In order to avoid this dread- 
ful evil, the Spanish crown has often ordered the missionaries 
to explore the coasts for a bay surrounded by a country suita- 
ble for the settlement of a colony. This they have often at- 
tempted, but the want of proper animals in their progresses, 
and the miserable character of the craft used in their voyages, 
have thus far prevented the attainment of their wishes. But 
Padre Uga te now determines to survey both the Pacific and 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORN AS 203 

Gulf coasts of the peninsula. His means are so small, how- 
ever, in every respect, that his brethren do not perceive how 
he will do it. He wants provisions, men and a ship. And 
such is the condition of public feeling in Mexico, and such the 
dilficulty of journeying there, that he cannot hope for aid from 
his friends in that quarter. But who knows the wealth of 
exhaustless energy ! Padre Ugarte will build a ship in Cali- 
fornia ! ! He has, however, neither plank, timber, sails, nor 
rigging, tar, nor any other necessary materials for such a 
work ; nor has he either a builder or shipwright, sawyer, or other 
naval artificers ; and if he had, there is no food for their sup- 
port ; and worse than all, he has no money wherewith to sup- 
ply any of these deficiencies. But the Padre says the King's 
orders must be obeyed ; that this cannot be done without the 
ship ; and therefore the ship must be built irrespective of 
means. The sufferings of his fellow beings also demand it 
The people of the garrison and some of the Padres smile at 
Padre Ugarte's resolution against what seems to them an im- 
possibility. But they do not estimate the creative powers of 
a mind bent on the accomplishment of its desires. He obtains 
a builder from Senora, and makes preparations for bringing 
timber from the opposite coast, as he has done for the erection 
of his churches. But hearing of a grove of large trees two 
hundred miles north of Loretto, he changes his determination, 
and in September, 1719, goes with his builders, two soldiers and 
some Indians to Mulege. Here he remains a day with Padre 
Sistiaga, and then strikes out for that line of mountains which 
overhangs the mission of Gaudalupe. They climb the heights 
and scour the barren plains ; endure inexpressible difficulties 
and toils; and at last discover a considerable number of Gua- 
rivos trees of suitable size ; standing, however, in such bottoms 
and sloughs, that the builder declares it impossible to get them 
to the sea. The Padre, disregarding this suggestion, goes to 
Loretto ; makes preparations for a vigorous effort to build a 
•hip of Californian timber ; returns to the north ; levels rocks, 
cuts away brush ; and making a road ninety miles in length 



204 SCENES IN THE PAPIKIC. 

from Muiege to the timber, fells it, saws it into plariks, trans- 
ports them to Muiege, and in four months builds a vessel am. 
launches with his own hands, in September, 1720, the first 
ship ever built on the northwest coast of North America ! ! 

In this herculean labor the Padre has employed his entire 
means. The little valuables sent him by his friends in Mexi- 
co and elsewhere, have not been spared. Even his wardrobe 
has been freely distributed among the laborers. He himself 
has swung the axe, has used the whip-saw, the chisel and the 
hammer ; he has risen with the dawn, and invoking the smiles 
of Heaven and the aid of ministering spirits in his toil of soul 
and body, kindly called his men to their tasks. They famish, 
and so does he. And when the fatigues of each day are over, 
the jutting rocks are their resting-place ; a few hides their 
bed. Yet the ship is built. High on her stern, firmly affixed 
to her bulwarks, is raised the symbol of their faith. Hei 
name, how appropriate, is, the " Triumph of the Cross." 
During the progress of the work, Jayme Bravo, as purveyor 
of the missions, goes to the coast of Cinaloa to procure goods 
and provisions. On his arrival there he is surprised to find 
letters from the Provincial of Mexico, ordering him to Gua- 
dalaxara for ordination. He accordingly ships his supplies 
and travels with all speed to that city ; is admitted to holy 
orders ; and by direction of his superior, proceeds to Mexico 
to procure aid for the missions. 

His energetic labors are crowned with success. On the 
fifteenth of March, 1720, the council orders a bark built, to 
sail between Accapulco and Peru, to be delivered to Padre 
Jayme Bravo, together with the arms and stores which he 
desires. The means of founding a new mission at La Paz, 
are also furnished by the Marquis de Villa Puente ; and Padre 
Bravo is designated as its priest and founder. With a new 
ship, therefore, well laden with supplies, and with new hopes 
for all the missions, and especially well furnished for his new 
work at La Paz, the Padre Jayme Bravo sails from Accapul- 
co in July, 1720, and in August of the same year enters the 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIF ORNIAS. 205 

harbor of Loretto, amidst a general burst of joy and religioua 
thanksgiving of tiie starving people on shore. Comfort and 
joy reign again throughout the missions. The Padres and 
the garrison are clothed again ; and the means being furnish- 
ed, their thoughts are again turned to the establishment of 
other missions. Padre Jay me Bravo leads the new under- 
taking. Two expeditions are therefore projected; one by 
land and another by water. The former is designed to open a 
land communication betw^een Loretto and the site of the in- 
tended mission ; the other for the conveyance of the men and 
provisions, and other necessaries of the enterprise. The 
forces intended for the expedition over land rendezvous at San 
Juan Baptista Ligui, under command of Padre Clemente 
Guillen. Padre Ugarte leads the other. He embarks on 
board the " Triumph of the Cross" with Padre Bravo, the 
soldiers and Indians, and a good stock of stores and utensils. 
They arrive in safety at the bay of La Paz. This is in the 
country of the Guaycuros, or Pericues, who have been 
grievously wronged by Admiral Otondo and the Spanish 
pearl fishermen. They are consequently inimical to the 
Spaniards, and will perhaps make deadly war upon them as 
they land. But it soon appears that those prisoners from 
the fishing barks, whom Padre Salva Tierra has returned 
to their homes, have given to their countrymen such an ac- 
count of the Padre's kind treatment as disposes them to 
friendship. Some of them appear in arms; but as soon 
as they see the costume of the Padres, their arms are laid 
aside. Seated on the ground, they allow the Padres to ap- 
proach, and accept with high demonstrations of pleasure, 
various presents. The object of the expedition is made 
known. They are assured by the Padres that it is for their 
benefit They have come to found a mission among them : 
to make peace between them and the Indians of the neigh- 
boring islands : to teach them agriculture and the useful 
arts, and to instruct them in the principles of the Christian 
religion. Thereupon the Indians receive them as friends, and 



206 SCENES IN THE PAClFtC. 

give them permission to erect the cross and consecrpte their 
shores to God. Huts are now erected for all the people ; the 
stores and beasts are brought ashore ; a piece of ground is 
cleared for a church and a village ; and to the great sur- 
prise and delight of the Indians, a mission is founded among 
them. 

The expedition by land, under Padre Guillen, has not yet 
arrived; and much disquietude is awhile felt for its fate. 
But it is soon changed to gladness. Three hundred miles 
have been travelled, over mountains, through woods and mo- 
rasses ; and as the sun is falling on the brown heights in the 
west, a salute of musketry is heard on the northern shore of 
the bay ; it is returned by the ship ; and the boats are imme- 
diately sent over for Padre Guillen and his company. They 
are worn, naked, hungry, and thirsty ; and with joy only 
known to themselves, they bathe in the surf, drink the water 
from the spring, and eat the food of their brethren in the new 
mission at La Paz. Padre Ugarte labors three months at La 
Paz, in establishing Padre Bravo in his mission. And now 
having confirmed the league of peace with the Indians by 
numerous acts of benevolence and Christian love, he takes a 
most affectionate leave of Padre Bravo and the soldiers who 
remain with him, and embarks for Loretto. Padre Guillen is 
so much worn with his land expedition, that he also returns by 
sea. The Ligui Indians who accompanied him, follow ba( k 
the path by which they came. Padre Bravo, as all others in 
charge of these missions have done before, learns the Indian 
language ; builds a parsonage, church and huts ; and with 
the greatest assiduity, applies himself to gain the affection of 
the natives, civilize and instruct them, and relieve them from 
want. As a reward of his labor, more than six hundred 
children and adults receive baptism ; and more than eight 
hundred adults are assembled in three well regulated settle- 
ments, called Nuestra Sennora del Pilar de La Paz, Todos 
Santos, and Angel de la Guarda. He also, as he pursues 
his holy labors, discovers some tracts of arable land sixtr 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 207 

miles distant, which he annually plants with maize. All thij 
Padre Bravo accomplishes single handed in seven years. 

In the year 1720, while the Padres are yet at La Paz, a 
mission is founded by Padre Everard Hellen, among mountains 
in latitude 27^ N., thirty leagues northwest of San Ignacio, 
thirty from Concepcion, and from sixty to seventy north ot 
Lorettc. The climate of this location is cold and unhealthy. 
But ttie Indians repair to it from the neighboring settlements, 
and express the utmost joy that the Padre, after long solicita- 
tions, has come to give them the religion of the white man. 
This mission is dedicated to Nuestra Sennora de Gaudalupe. 
In the midst of the labor of erecting the edifices of the mission, 
the Padre visits the most distant of the surrounding settle- 
ments, to instruct the aged and sick, who are unable to come 
to him. During his absence for these works of charity, the 
captain, soldiers and Indians, forward the erection of the 
church, parsonage and other buildings of the mission ; so that 
at the end of six weeks, it is in so good a condition that 
the captain, leaving a guard of four soldiers, returns to Lo- 
retto. 

Such is the zealous industry of Padre Hellen, and the inter- 
esting attention of the Indians, that on Easter eve, 1721, he 
baptizes a few converts. And now from all the villages come 
applications for instruction and baptism. The good Padr** 
finds it diflficult to make the Indians understand, that some 
knowledge and the abandonment of their old practices are 
necessary, before they can receive the sacred rite. He exhorts 
them to give up the trumperies used in their heathenish cere- 
monies, and worship Jehovah. At length they bring him a 
large quantity of pieces of charmed wood, feathers, cloaks, 
deer's feet, &c., which he commits publicly to the flames, 
while he receives the transfer of their faith to the religion ot 
the cross. Thus the Padres are making all desirable pro- 
gress in the spiritual culture of the Indians, and everything 
promises well. But the following years, 1722 and '23, are 
very disastrous to their feeble settlements ; and especially so 



20S SCENES IN THE PACIFIC 

to Gaudalupe. The whole country is overrun with locusts 
The fruits, the chief sustenance of the Indians, are entirely ,ie- 
stroyed. The maize and other supplies in the granaries, are dis- 
tributed to save them from famine. But in Gaudalupe, even 
these are insufficient. The Indians are therefore compelled 
to subsist on the locusts; and the consequence is a terrible 
epidemic, by which great numbers are destroyed. They are 
afflicted with painful ulcers of a most loathsome character. 
During this epidemic. Padre Hellen has to fill the offices of 
physician, nurse, confessor, priest, and father. He endures 
almost incredible fatigue ; flies from one village to another ; 
administers medicine, prepares food, and smoothes with a wo- 
man's tenderness, the rude couches of his suffering children. 
Thus he continues till the sickness ends ; when worn out with 
the multiplicity and the character of his labors, he hails the 
approach of a season of rest with joy and thanksgiving. But 
scarcely does it come, when another still more fatal pestilence 
breaks out among them. A dysentery unusually fatal sum- 
mons the fainting energies of the good Padre to another 
effort. He again enters upon his charitable offices, going 
from rancheria to rancheria, like an angel of mercy, consoling, 
comforting, praying and blessing. At last the consequences 
of his severe labor fall upon himself in a distressing hernia, 
and defluxion of the eyes, so extremely painful, that he is 
obliged to leave his flock and retire to Loretto. In a few 
months he is sufficiently restored, however, to return to his du- 
ties, and his afflicted Indians receive him with every demon- 
sta-ation of faithful love and veneration. The Padre avails him- 
self of this attachment to draw them to his faith so effectually, 
that, in 1726, seventeen hundred and seven converts of all 
ages are the fruit of Padre Hellen's devout labors. Some, 
living at a distance, are attached to the more contiguous mis- 
sions of Santa Rosalia and San Ignacio. But twenty ranche- 
rias remain to Padre Hellen. These he maintains in the most 
peaceful and gentle intercourse with each other and with 
himself. They are divided into villages of four rancherias. 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 209 

with each a chapel. And in these humble sanctuaries, as 
often as the Padre visits them, the red men gather and pay 
their devotions to the true God ! The pro^jress made in spir- 
itual improvement is equal to his most ardent desires. But 
the nature of the country forbids equal advancement in the 
arts of civilized life. They cannot raise the small grains ; 
and their only resource is the cultivation of maize and the 
raising of cattle. These are procured by the Padre ; anu 
■with the native fruits afford them a comfortable subsistence. 
The justice and kindness of the Padre win him the love and 
esteem of all the Indians ; and he desires to live and die 
among them. But his health again failing, and his superior 
regarding him with more tenderness than he does himself, 
transfers him to an easier office in Mexico. And thus, having 
spent sixteen years in the most arduous and faithful discharge 
of his duties as a missionary in California, he, with grief and 
tears, in 1735, takes leave of the Indians of Santa Guadalupe. 
While these labors are being prosecuted, a very strong de- 
sire is felt by the Padres to extend the commercial and civil 
advantages of California by the establishment of colonies, gar- 
risons, and good harbors, for the accommodation of the Philip- 
pine and Chinese ships. In order to accomplish this, it is 
desirable to do three things ; first, to take a minute survey by 
water, of the Pacific coast, from Cape San Lucas northward, 
in search of such harbors ; second, to pursue the same search 
by a land expedition, skirting the coast between the same 
points ; and third, to survey the Californian Gulf, in order to 
ascertain whether the peninsula be really such, or an island, 
cut off from the main land by a channel at the north end 
Great difficulties oppose the prosecution of all these enter- 
prises by the feeble powers of the Padre. But after mu ^,h de- 
liberation, it is resolved to undertake the two last. The sur- 
vey of the Gulf being deemed the most difficult and import- 
ant. Padre Ugarte determines to take charge of it himself, and 
while he is making the necessary preparation, he desires 
Padre Guillen to attempt the land tour, on the Pacific Coast. 



210 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC 

They 1( arn from the narrative of Viscayno, who has sui 
<reyed the coast northward from Cape San Lucas, in the pre- 
ceding century, that there is a spacious bay in latitude 23^ 
or 24^ N. ; and to this point Padre Guillen directs his steps in 
1719, accompanied by a party of soldiers, and three bodies of 
Californians, armed after the manner of the natives. They 
travel over a rough, barren, craggy country, and are obliged 
to use the greatest caution to prevent the natives from cutting 
them off. Twenty-five days they journey thus, and at last 
reach the bay of Magdalena ; a beautiful sheet of water re- 
posing in the embrace of lofty mountains. On one arm of it 
they find a rancheria of Indians, whom they gain over by a 
few presents, and enter into friendly intercourse with them. 
From them they learn that there is but one well of fresh 
water in the vicinity ; but that on a neighboring island called 
Santa Rosa, there is an abundant supply. They have no 
means, however, of crossing to it. The whole region 
proves so rough and divided, between marshes and inac- 
cessible piles of rock, as to be worthless. The)/ there- 
fore make a circuit of four leagues from the sea to the 
rancheria San Benito de Aruy. Here they receive from the 
Indians a very discouraging account of the scarcity of water, 
on the whole coast. Notwithstanding this, the Padre is anx- 
ious to survey the country from north to south, and uses all 
his eloquence to induce the soldiers and Californians to under- 
take it. But being fatigued and disheartened, they refuse to 
proceed. The Padre yields reluctantly to the necessity of the 
case, and taking some friendly Indians of the coast with him 
as guides, commences his return to Loretto. From the supe- 
rior knowledge that the guides possess, they accomplish their 
back\''ard journey in fifteen days ; and once more congratu 
late themselves on their arrival at the garrison. 

Their report does not much encourage the hope of Padre 
Ugarte in relation to his expedition by sea But having made 
the best preparations in his power, he sets sail from the bay of 
Loretto on the fifteenth of May, 1721, with the " Triumprh ol 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 211 

the Cross," and a boat called the Santa Barbara, to be used 
in sounding such watero as are too shallow for the larger 
vessel. The Santa Barbara has eleven feet keel and six feet 
beam. She carries eight persons. The bilander carries 
tvventy j six of whom are Europeans, and the rest Indians. 
Of the former, two have passed the straits of Magellan, another 
has made a voyage to the Philippine Islands and Batavia, 
and another has been several times to Newfoundland. The 
pilot passes for a man of learning and experience ; and thus 
supported. Padre Ugarte departs on his momentous enter- 
prise. He takes but a small stock of provisions, expecting to 
receive a full supply from the mission on the opposite coast 
of Pimeria. The winds bear them safely to the bay of Con- 
cepcion, where Padre Ugarte visits the mission of Santa Ro- 
salia, and spends some hours in social pleasure with Padre 
Sistiaga. Hence they pass the islands of Salsipuedes. From 
these they cross the Gulf to the harbor of Santa Sabina and 
the bay of San Juan Baptista. Here they observe Indians 
standing on the shore, who flee as the boat nears them. When 
the Padre lands, he sees a rude cross set up in the sand. The 
simple solitary sign speaks to the good man's heart. He 
bows before it, and the crews prostrate themselves in rever- 
ence at its foot. This is enough. The Indians, reassured by 
this act, shout a friendly welcome, and rush from their con- 
cealment. They have known the venerable Salva Tierra ; 
and the strangers' reverence for the cross allays all their fears; 
so strong have been their love and respect for that great man, 
that they put all trust in his brethren ; and are so impatient 
to be near the Padre Ugarte, that they swim to the ship, and 
manifest their joy by kissing his hands and face, and embrac- 
ing his feet. The good Padre's heart is deeply touched by 
these t^kejis of confidence and love, and having sent two of 
them with a letter to the Padre of San Ignacio, and distribut- 
ed some presents among the others, makes preparations to 
procure a supply of water. For this purpose all the casks are 
immediately put on shore. They have no interpreter, but the 



212 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

Indians seem to enter into some dispute relative to the cftsks. 
By and by they all take leave, intimating by signs that they 
will return with the next sun. The Padre and the crew grow 
apprehensive. What do the Indians mean ? It cannot be 
known. But being late, they go on board, and wait the 
event. Night comes onj but no hostile savages break its 
silence. With the early morning, however, the dreaded sava- 
ges are seen returning in troops, with rush buckets filled with 
water ; the men with two, and the women one each. The 
faithful creatures, understanding the want implied by the empty 
casks, have visited their mountain springs during the night, 
and now rejoice to pour their crystal treasures into the good 
Padre's vessels. Repaying their kindness as liberally as his 
small means will permit, he undertakes to visit their kinsmen 
on a neighboring island. The pinnace and bilander are pi- 
loted by two of these Indians. A small party in a canoe row 
in advance of the ships, during the night. At dawn they are 
in a narrow channel full of rocks and sand spits; and notwith- 
standing their precautions, the bilander grounds on a shoal 
and requires all the efforts of her crew for some hours to get 
her off. 

This period of anxiety over, another begins ; for now the 
canoe and pinnace have disappeared. The bilander therefore 
goes on, though dangers beset her on every side, and after 
three days of tacking and sounding, reaches a tortuous chan- 
nel leading into a large bay. In this lie the pinnace and 
canoe near the island they are seeking. Thither they direct 
their course without more difficulties or delays. As they ap- 
])roach, the natives appear on the shore, armed and shouting 
with the intention of intimidating the strangers. But their 
countrymen swimming ashore in advance, inform them that 
Padre Salva Tierra's brother is come in the ship to see 
them. Hearing this, they lay down their arms and express 
the liveliest sentiments of joy. The bilander having dropped 
her anchor, the Padre is earnestly solicited to go on shore 
But heiixQ attacked with the most excruciating pains through- 



TRAVELS IN THE (J A L I F O R N IAS. 213 

out his person, from the chest downward, he rekictantly fore- 
goes the pleasure of complying with their invitation. These 
pains have followed him occasionally since the severe expo- 
sure which he endured in the harbor of Seris. The Indians, 
seeing that illness prevents his leaving the ship, construct a 
number of small light floats, antl send aboard a deputation of 
forty or fifty persons, requesting that he will occupy, during 
his indisposition, a house which they have erected for him on 
the beach. The good Padre cannot refuse this proffer of 
sympathy, and though every motion is agony, gives direc- 
tions to be placed in the boat and rowed ashore. On landing, 
he is treated with great consideration. The islanders have 
formed themselves in double file from the waterside to the 
house ; the men on one side and the women on the other. 
Between these lines he is borne to the dwelling. It is a 
small wigwam constructed of green boughs, fronting plea- 
santly on the open bay. Here the suffering Padre being- 
seated, the people who have lined his pathway, come in one 
by one, first the men, then the women, and passing along, 
bow their heads that he may lay his hand upon them, and 
bless them. The Padre conceals his bodily agonies wdth 
great heroism, and receives them with much pleasantness and 
regard. 

This ceremony over, the islanders gather about for instruc- 
tion. He cannot remain sufficient time to do this ; anxl re- 
commending them to go to the Mission del Populo, and bring 
thither an Indian teacher, who will answer their inquiries ariii 
teach them the precepts of the gospel, he re-embarks and 
continues his survey. He soon afterward discovers a small 
open bay, where his little fleet comes to anchor. His sup- 
plies are now nearly exhausted. It therefore becomes him to 
hasten his explorations. Accordingly he sends the pinnace 
t: survey the coast by sea, and three men to examine it by 
land. The latter return on the second day. They have 
taken an outline of the neighboring land, and have seen a 
pool of stagnant water, and some mule tracks in the path 



214 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

leading from it. The Padre sees much in these tracks, and 
despatches two seamen with orders to follow them. These 
arrive on the third day at the Mission of Concepcion la Ca- 
borca. Here they find Padre Luis Gallardi, to whom they 
deliver Padre Ugarte's letters, addressed to himself and the 
Padre Missionary of San Ignacio. These being found to con- 
tain urgent petitions for the promised supplies, the Padre 
Gallardi immediately sets out with such small quantities as 
he can collect at so short notice. 

Padre Ugarte is still suffering the most excruciating tor- 
lures. The only position which he can endure, is on his 
knees. He has been twelve days in these dreadful agonies, 
unable even to go on shore. But now hearing of the arrival 
of Padre Gallardi, and the expected visit of the Padre Mis- 
sionary from San Ignacio, he determines, if possible, to 
receive them ashore. It is no easy thing for him to leave the 
ship. But at last it is accomplished j and he travels a league 
and a half to meet his visiters. 

The meagre supplies which they bring him are a source 
of anxiety to the host and his guests. The pinnace, too, 
is still absent. She was sent to survey the coast at the 
same time -that the men w^ere despatched by land. The 
shores of the Gulf have been searched for a great distance 
north and south, but no trace of her being found, she is 
nearly given up for lost. The bilander, too, is in cont'nual 
danger from the agitation of the sea. She has already parted 
one of her cables ; and now a heavy sea carries away her 
bowsprit, on which is mounted the " Holy Cross !" This 
causes great consternation. Fortunately a returning wave 
throws most of her bowsprit back ; but the cross is still at 
the mercy of the waves ! and the fears of the crew increase. 
Heaven frowns on their labors, and has removed from them 
the symbol of its mercy. The next day, however, an Indian 
recovers the sacred emblem, and it is again planted in triumph 
on the prow. Attention is now turned to obtaining wood and 
water. The former is easily procured in the glen near the 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIiS 215 

shore; but the latter they bring from a spring several miles 
distant. While thus engaged, they rejoice to see three of the 
pinnace's crew approaching them. They relate that after 
weathering a very rough sea, and being several times in im- 
minient danger, they cast anchor at sunset in a large shallow 
bay, tt;*);, two fathoms water, and went to rest. On the fol- 
lowmg n^jrning they were in a singular predicament for sea- 
men, o-ut of sight — not of land — but of water ! ! The sea 
had retired. What should be done ? No water, either fresh 
or salt, was in sight, and the supply of provisions was very 
scarnty. Some ofthern resolved therefore, to leave the pinnace 
in search of water and food. Finding none, however, and 
seeing nothing but famine and death before them, they con- 
cluded to travel down the coast to Yaqui. The pinnace, how- 
ever, was visited by another flood tide, which her exhausted 
crew improved to get her afloat. Her keel had been much 
damaged. This they repaired, and immediately laid their 
course for the bilander. Four days after leaving her unfor- 
tunate berth she rejoins her companion. They now determine 
to depart from this ungenerous region and its treacherous 
waters, where neither food, fresh water, fuel nor home for 
man are to be found, but a mere wilderness of lonely shores. 
Somewhat disheartened by these unpropitious circumstances, 
Padre Ugarte, on the second of July, turns his prow westward 
for California. On the third day afterward he drops the 
anchor of the bilander and sends the pinnace ashore to talk 
with some Indians, who, at the sight of the fleet, have lined 
the shore, all armed in their native style. Before the men 
leave the pinnace the Indians draw a line on the sand, and 
intima*e by signs it will not be safe for their visiters to cross 
it A few presents, however, and some pantomiming, estab- 
lish affairs on a better footing. They conduct the Padres 
and people to their rancheria, at which is abundance of 
water. 

After remaimng a short time with these savages, they 
journey about nin< leagues along the coast and fmd five 



216 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC 

watering places, with a rancheria at each. The Bilander 
continuing her survey, at length casts anchor in a large bay ; 
but finding the current so strong as to prevent her riding head 
to the wind, Padre Ugarte sends the pinnace down the coast 
in search of a better harbor, while the pilot goes ashore in 
the boat seeking an anchorage farther up the bay, returns 
next day with the boat in so shattered a condition, that it 
is with difficulty the people are taken on board before she 
parts asunder. The pilot reports that he left her on the sand 
and went a short distance to a rancheria ; that while there 
exchanging friendly intercourse with the Indians, the tide 
came in with tremendous force, and threw the boat so vio- 
lently upon the rocks, that she separated from stem to stern ; 
that the Indians offered them timber to build another ; but as 
this was impossible, they drew the nails from the oars, fasten- 
ed the two parts together, and using their sounding line and 
painter for oakum, and substituting clay for pitch, caulked 
the seam. All night they were thus employed, the Indians 
kindly rendering them whatever assistance was in their power ; 
and the next day keeping near the shore with their crazy 
leaky boat, they reached the bilander as related. In a short 
time the pinnace arrives, having cruised forty leagues and 
discovered no harbor. 

The bilander now again stands northward, and in a 
few days finds herself sailing in waters whose variable hue 
indicates her approach to the outlet of some great river. 
Padre Ugarte keeps the pinnace sounding ahead, and after 
standing across, and making some northing, comes to anchor 
on the Peninsula side, near the mouth of the Colorado of the 
west. It is disgorging a great volume of angry waters, laden 
with grass, weeds, trunks of trees, burned logs, timbers 
of wigwams, &c. There has evidently been ruthless work 
inland. Terrible storms, accompanied with thunder and 
lightning, have visited the voyagers during the night, and 
spread over the country, whence the river issues. The men 
are anxious, as soon as the flood subsides, to go up and sur- 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFOKNIAS 217 

ixy this stream. But Padre Ugarte thinks the floods beneath; 
and *he angry clouds above, will render the undertaking haz- 
ardous. Beside, himself and several of his crew are very ill. 
They therefore cross the western mouth of the Colorado, and 
anchor in four fathom water, opposite the island which divides 
the outlet. From this point they have a distant view of the 
union of the Peninsula with the main land. The Padre is de- 
sirous of exploring this region more particularly ; but ill 
health and tlie great danger to which his vessel is exposed 
from the impetuosity and height of the tides, make him hesi- 
tate. The pilot is satisfied from the present height of the 
tides that they are at the head of a gulf; and that the 
waters beyond it are those of the Colorado. The danger of 
remaining in this place becoming more and more imminent, 
they at length hold a council, at which it is determined to re- 
turn to California. Their decision is received by the men 
with a general acclamation of applause, and greatly to the 
satisfaction of all, they weigh anchor on the sixteenth of 
July, 1721, for the port of Loretto. 

Their course lies down the middle of the Gulf; sometimes 
standing toward one shore and sometimes the other ; in order 
to note more particularly the islands and shoals, which fill 
these waters. Meantime they are visited by tremendous tem- 
pests and storms of rain ; and the Padre, fearing for the peo- 
ple in the pinnace, which is without a deck, urges the mate to 
leave her and come with her crew on board of the bilander. 
But that officer trusting to his own craft, informs the Padre, 
t:at if he will furnish him with provisions, he will sail direct- 
ly to Loretto ; and to secure safety in so doing, will keep so 
near the shore as to be able to run in, should any accident 
render such proceeding necessary. They therefore separate, 
and each pursues his own course. The bilander, after much 
trouble, arrives at the islands of Salsipuedes. She is here 
obliged, by the winds and strong currents, to lie at anchor 
for several n ;ghts. At last, however, she weathers the Islands 
of Tiburon. But such is the force of the currents, that in six 



218 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

hours they lose the labor of eight days. Meantime the tem- 
pests continue almost every night with frightful fury. The 
hungry waters roar around the trail bark, and the winds and 
storms scourge her as if she were some doomed thing, labor- 
ing under their curse. But the men take courage, for the 
** Triumph of the Cross" is a special object of Divine favor. 
Three successive nights the fires of Saint Elmo light the cross 
at the mast head, and no evil can befall them after such evi- 
dence of God's protection. They are encouraged, therefore, to 
make a third attempt to escape from this dangerous neighbor- 
hood. Eight days struggling are vain. The currents and 
storms will not suffer them to depart ; and at last they resolv-e 
to come to anchor at a convenient place which they discover 
near one of the islands, and go on shore. This begins now to 
be a matter of necessity on account of the sickness which has 
disabled all the crew except five. Some have the scurvy, 
and others are suffering from the effects of the sea water, 
which, farther up the Gulf, in the vicinity of the Colorado, 
has been so poisonous, as to produce painful, obstinate sores, 
and sharp pains in many parts of the body. Padre Ugarte 
himself, besides his other indispositions, is afflicted with the 
scurvy ; and it is essential that he take means to recover 
health. The Padre, notwithstanding his illness, is desirous to 
go in the boat to the Seris coast, and thence by land to Guay- 
mas. But the bare mention of his departure causes such de- 
jection among the crew, that he promises not to leave them if 
it cost his life to remain. 

They lie at anchor in this place about four days ; during 
which time they are visited by a tempest more violent than 
any that preceded it. At length to their inexpressible joy, 
on the eighteenth of August, they escape these vexations, and 
are once more in an open sea. On the Sunday morning fol- 
lowing, they hail a most happy omen to their future voyage. 
Three beautiful rainbows hang over the islands they have just 
weathered ; bright arches of promise rising above the clouds 
that have so long lowered over them. The sick too are no\i? 



iflnr''W'li'fll!fFI!'n"nimir'8,r.^, 




TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 219 

all recovering, and everything promises fairly to the buffeted 
mariners. Their hopes are vain. Other misfortunes are in 
reserve, more frightful than any they have encountered. For 
just before they reach the bay of Concepcion, a storm comes 
up from the north-east so very suddenly, that they have 
barely time to furl the topsails and reef the foresail, before its 
fury reaches them. The lightning falls around them, as if it 
would scorch an ocean to ashes, and the thunder-peals shake 
the firm_ament; the rain falls like the pouring of an upper 
sea, and the wind ploughs the ocean into mountains ! In the 
height of this raging war, the terrified mariners discover a 
water-spout not more than a league distant, travelling directly 
toward the ship, with the speed of the wind ! They fall upon 
their knees before the cross, and implore the protection of 
" Our Lady," and their patron saints. They spare neither 
prayers, vows, nor entreaties ! And suddenly when the foe is 
almost upon them, the wind shifts and drives it among the 
thirsty mountains of California. It discharges its devastating 
energies upon their barren sands and rocks ! Padre Ugarte 
says, that among all the dangers of the voyage, this was the 
time of greatest consternation. 

About the first of September, the vessel comes to anchor 
in the bay of Concepcion ; and they repair in boats to Mulege, 
to partake the hospitality of Padre Sistiaga. After spending 
about two weeks in recruiting the sick, they return to their 
voyage, and soon after arrive at Loretto. To their great joy 
they find the pinnace has arrived four days in advance of 
them. Thus ends this eventful and important voyage. It 
serves to satisfy the Padres of many things which before were 
doubtful ; namely, that on the coast of California are some 
few watering places near the shore; that the Indians are 
kind, gentle, and willing to be instructed j while those on the 
main coast, east of the Gulf, are sluggish, ungenerous, and 
unwilling to enter into any intercourse with the whites. They 
are also now convinced that California is no island, but a 



220 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

peninsula ; and that all their plans for extending the missions 
so as to form a chain of connection with those in Pimeria are 
feasible. They have also obtained a much more accurate 
knowledge of the Gulf and its islands, shoals and currents, 
than they ever before possessed ; so that the difficulties and 
dangers of any future voyage are much lessened. Great sat- 
isfaction is felt at these results ; and yet the Padres grieve 
that they have not found a safe harbor, as their King has de- 
sired, in which the distressed seamen of the ships, bound from 
the Philippine Islands to Acapulco, may anchor and be spared 
by timely care, a dreadful death from the scurvy. The 
Padres still consider it their duty to pursue this object. They 
feel a moral, as well as national obHgation to prevent this 
suffering. It can only be done by discovering a harbor on the 
Pacific coast, secure from seaward storms and convenient to 
fresh water. With a view to this. Padre Tamaral surveys 
nearly the whole coast from his mission to Cape San Lucas, 
and far northward also, from the same point; but all to no 
purpose. It is found inhospitable and barren near the sea ; 
and destitute of a harbor in which ships may lie with any 
safety. 

Padre Ugarte, on his return to Loretto, directs a new sur- 
vey of the same coast as far north as possible. And in com- 
pliance with this order, a small detachment of soldiers under 
the captain of the garrison goes to the mission of Santa Ro- 
salia de Mulege, and thence with Padre Sistiaga, to the mis- 
sion of Guadalupe. On the nineteenth of November, 1721, 
it leaves for the coast, and advances northward to 28^ N. 
In this excursion they find three pretty good harbors, with 
plenty of water and woo . , out no arable land near them. 
The largest one is not far from the mission of San Xavier ; 
and may therefore be supplied with provisions, timber, &c., 
from that post. Highly gratified with these discoveries, they 
return to Loretto and report to Padre Ugarte what they have 
found. The Padre sends a narrative of his own voyage, to- 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 22 1 

get'ner with the map and journal of his pilot, and Padre Sisti- 
aga's account of his discoveries, to the Viceroy of Mexico, to 
be transmitted to the Court, for the information and action of 
the Government. Meanwhile the Padres turn their attention 
to the spiritual conquest of this wild country. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



A Mission Foundid — A Tornado— Death— Another Mission Founded— 
A Vineyard — A Harvest— Indications of Trouble — A Murder— For- 
bearance — Three Murders — Measures taken for Defence — The Insur- 
gents Captured— A Trial— A Sentence— A Reprieve— Death of Padre 
Piccolo — A Visitor — Further Steps in the Conquest— A Voyage — 
Birds— Natives— Country— Islands— A Plunge— A Shark— Death. 

The Padres have lost none of their religious zeal while 
prosecuting these civil enterprises; and they have gained 
much topographical and other knowledge, which will be of 
general service in their future missionary labors. They have 
learned the practicability of extending their missions farther 
north. The country there is more fertile and better supplied 
with wood and water. The moral aspect too is more promis- 
mg. The natives in that quarter are much superior in intellect, 
more gentle and friendly, more honest and faithful ; and in 
every way more inviting and promising than those in the 
south. There, is a rich field of labor opened to them. But at 
the same time the condition of the southern natives renders it 
more necessary that they should be formed into missions. 
They are treacherous, vindictive, bloody ; and have many vices 
which are unknown among the northern people. The whole 
nation of Pericues with its several branches of Uchities, Guay- 
curos and Coras, are continually engaged in destructive wars, 
so that no security can be enjoyed by the missions or th^i? 



222 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

converts, until this entire people are brought under the influ- 
ence of the Padres. To this end, during the time that Padre 
Ugarte has been exploring the Gulf and coast, two new mish 
sions have been founded amono^ Pericues. 

The Marques de Villa Puente, having a deep interest in the 
spread of the gospel in California, has endowed two missions 
which shall be founded between Cape San Lucas and Loretto. 
On receiving tidings of this, it is resolved that Padre Guil- 
len shall leave the mission San Lucas de Malibat, and found 
a new mission between the Uchities and Guaycuros. Accord- 
ingly in 1721, he settles among them and lays the foundation 
of a church and other buildings necessary to a mission, on the 
shore of Aparte, forty leagues by sea, and on account of im- 
passable mountains, sixty by land, from Loretto. The mission 
is dedicated to Nuestra Sennora de los Dolores, and is styled 
Los Dolores del Sur. The country around it is barren and 
desolate. The inhabitants are the most vindictive, treacher- 
ous and stupid of all the Californians. Padre Guillen has 
therefore no easy or pleasant task to execute. But he enters 
upon it with so much zeal and love, is so unsparing of his 
efforts, and so universally kind and gentle toward those whom 
he would win to his flock, that his labors are rewarded even 
more largely than his fondest hopes anticipate. 

It is found advisable after the oood Padre has been laborino^ 
here for some t^^^, to remove his mission farther into the in- 
terior, to a place called Tanuetia, about ten leagues from the 
Gulf and twenty-five from ihe Pacific. In this region the In- 
dians live in the wildest state. They have no villages; and 
the Padre is obliged to seek them in caves and woods, and 
among the almost inaccessible rocks of the mountains. With 
great labor and the most indefatigable perseverance he 
draws them from their retreats and forms them into six villa- 
ges, called Nuestra Sennora de los Dolores, La Concepcion 
de Nuestra Sennora, La Incarnacion, La Trinidad, La Redemp- 
cion, and La Resurreccion. He also assembles many other 
wandering Indians, and erects for them the new mission of 



TRAVELS IN THECALIFORNIAS. 223 

3arj Luis Gonzaga. Lastly, he turns his attention to the con- 
version of the Indians on the Pacific coast, from the mission 
of San Xavier southward to the Coras ; and founds mnoivr 
them a new mission. The Padre has now spread his labors 
over an immense tract of country, extending forty leagues up 
the Peninsula from Cape San Lucas, and embracing the whole 
territory from one coast to the other. 

The soil of this region is extremely poor. A small tract 
at Aparte on which the Lidians are enabled to raise sufficient 
maize for sustenance, is all that can be cuhivated. And be- 
sides the physical difficulties incident to these desolate wastes, 
the Padre has savage poverty and its inseparable mental de- 
gradation, to weaken his hands and try his faith. This is pe 
cuharly distressing to the good Padre. It appears to him im- 
possible to bring these Indians into civilized habits of hving, 
without the industry acquired by the cultivation of the soil. 
Notwithstanding all these momentous obstacles, however, (and 
few can appreciate them who have not seen the poor starving 
Indian in his native wilderness), the good Padre's labors here 
are so efficient and deeply grounded in the true philosophy of 
love, that these savages, once so vindictive and turbulent, are 
so changed as to stand firm during all the subsequent rebel- 
lions of the south, and offer the Padres and Christian Indians, 
flying from the treacherous and cruel Pericues and Coras, an 
affectionate and safe asylum in the mission de los Dolores del 
Sur. During the year 1721, another mission endowed by the 
Marques de la Puente, has been founded in the nation of the 
Coras, near Cape San Lucas, under Padre Ignacia Maria Na- 
poli. Padre Ugarte, before embarking on his survey of the 
gulf, gave direction to Padre Napoh to wait the arrival of the 
bark with supplies from Mexico, and taking whatever he 
stood in need of for his new station, to proceed in the bark to 
La Paz, and thence by land to the Bay of Islands, the place 
chosen for his mission. This vessel arrives in the middle of 
July ; and on the twenty-first. Padre Napoli embarks with 
four soldiers and Captain Don Estevan Rodriguez ; and on 



(RlM SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

the second of August, anchors at La Paz. Padre Napcd is 
met by the Indians with great veneration. They conduct hirn 
m process^ m to the chui ch where Padre Jayme Bravo, then 
missionary, is waiting to receive him. 

Having rested from the toil of the voyage, the Padre sends 
til? supplies to Palmas Bay in a boat, while himself and the 
sol^er& proceed by land for the twofold purpose of establish- 
in-^ some communication between the contemplated mission 
and La Paz, and also of inviting such Indians as they may 
meet on the way, to settle near him and receive instruction 
During the eight days of travelling through this wilderness, 
however, they meet no natives. The news of their approach 
has aroused their suspicions to such a degree, that they desert 
their rancherias and fly before the Padres, as if they were 
come to curse instead of bless them. On the twenty-fourth of 
August they reach their place of destination. Padre Napoh 
is suffering extreme pain in consequence of a fall from his 
mule. No Indians appear ; the boat does not arrive ; and the 
Padre therefore is troubled. One evening Padre Napoli is 
walking alone at some distance from the tent, w^hen suddenly 
his ears are saluted by the most frightful bowlings, and on 
looking up he sees a company of naked Indians approaching 
him with the most furious gestures. They are led by one ot 
gigantic stature, painted for battle, in black and red, and par- 
tially covered by a kind of hair cloak. In one hand he has n 
fan of feathers, and in the other a bow and arrow. Several 
deer's ieet and other unseemly objects dangle from a band 
around his waist. The Padre, concluding that his tkne is now 
come to die, commends his soul to mercy, and advances to 
meet the Indians. He remembers the instructions of Padre 
Ugarte, and concealing his fears, looks them boldly in the 
fece, and even makes signs of contempt for their savage arts 
Their apparent fury is a little checked by his demeanor ; and 
ine Padre gaining courage, approaches nearer and signifies 
oy signs that he is grieved, but not frightened by their inten- 
tions. He then proceeds with great kindness to distribute 



LS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 226 

among them some trifling presents which he has about hiis 
person, and invites them to come to the tent and receive oth- 
ers. This treatment produces its desired effect. They follow 
him to the tent, wl:tere they are kindly entertained ; and at 
length depart, bearing tokens of peace to their friends at home. 
They seem much pleased ; but intimate as they depart that 
they are afraid of the mules and the Padre's dog ; and that 
they cannot return, unless these are concealed from sight. 
This the Padre signifies shall be done. The next day the 
tent is thronged with little parties, to the number of five hun- 
dred, bringing such presents as the country affords, and re- 
ceiving in return frocks of sackcloth, razors, and beads. This 
demonstration cheers the hearts of the Padre and soldiers. 
Still the boat does not arrive — and they are oppressed with 
fears lest she may be lost with all their supplies ; for they 
have been here now five days. No tidings of her have reach- 
ed them. They are, however, looking out on the sea at 
the close of the fifth day, when she makes her appearance. 
She has mistaken the place of rendezvous, and lain four days 
in a small bay a few leagues to the south. 

Being relieved thus from these several troubles, they begin 
to clear the ground and erect the village. The Indians con- 
tinue friendly and aid the work. But on a sudden they all 
disappear for a whole day. Now again the heart of the Pa- 
dre beats with anxiety. When and how will the Indians 
return are questions which will arise, but which no one can 
answer. Toward evening he determines to go in quest of 
them with only one soldier and an interpreter. He finds a 
few, and expresses his regret that they should forsake him ; 
when they frankly state the cause of their movement, as fol- 
lows : — They are at war with the Guaycuros ; the Padre is 
friendly to the latter, and has soldiers and Indians of that na- 
tion with him. They have watched their labors and see the 
walls of the church go up. For what other purpose could 
these be intended to answer, than a warlike one ? Moreover, 
the Pad*- has that morning despatched three Guaycuros on the 



226 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

open road to La Paz ; and the ostensible object is peaceful 
enough, being simply to drive in a mule laden with maize. 
Yet they are suspicious that some more important business 
lies under this affair. In short, they believe the Guay euros are 
coming to massacre the whole nation. The Padre has much 
difficulty in removing this suspicion from their minds. At 
length, however, he so far recovers their confidence that a 
large number return to the tent. Others, still apprehensive, 
light large fires and keep strict watch, that the supposed ene- 
my may not fall on them unawares. The night, however, 
operates unfavorably on their feelings. They are all missing 
again for two days. They look upon Padre Bravo, who 
speaks the Guaycuri tongue, as the head and front of their 
foes. His presence keeps their fears and suspicions continu- 
ally inflamed. And though, when the mule and the Guaycu- 
ros return from La Paz, they see that Padre Napoli has told 
them truth, still they cannot so far qutet their fears as to re- 
turn to their dwellings. Thus they continue between hope 
and fear for several days. Meantime the Padre continues his 
labors at the mission ; and by and by the Indians, finding 
their fears unfounded, begin to come in. The women bring 
their children for baptism, and the men offer perpetual friend- 
ship. Peace is also concluded between the Guaycuros and 
Coras and celebrated with the usual festivities. 

On the fourth of November Padre Napoli baptizes twenty- 
nine of their children, and everything seems to promise well 
for their intercourse with the Indians. But as almost every- 
thing which was brought from La Paz, even to the furniture 
of the altar, has been distributed among them, and as the 
supply of provisions is growing short. Padre Napoli finds it 
necessary to evacuate his post. He accordingly leaves the 
little furniture and the few remaining utensils in the care of 
some o"* the oldest and most faithful of the savages, and pro- 
mising a speedy return, goes with Padre Bravo and his men 
to La Paz. 

In January he returns to his mission, and finds that dunng 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 227 

his absence, a band of forty depredators, from a neighboring 
island, called Cerralvo, has visited the mission, and finding 
neither Padre nor guard in possession, killed six baptized child- 
ren, two women and one man ; and taking another prisoner, 
returned to their homes. The Padre is sad at this unprovoked 
barbarity upon his neophytes. But the Captain of the guard 
is so enraged, that accompanied by a small party of soldiers, 
he crosses to the island to chastise the savages. They flee at 
his approach and hide themselves among the rocks. He, 
however, kills a sufficient number to intimidate the living from 
a like attempt in future, and returns to the mission. 

The confidence of the Indian converts in the Padre, is 
greatly increased by this punishment of their enemies. Yet 
the Padre does not think best to continue his mission so far 
from La Paz, whence all its supplies must come. According 
ly, he selects a spot called Santa Anna, situated thirty leagues 
from La Paz, and five from the Gulf. Here he builds a 
chapel and small house, and labors with much success for the 
establishment of Christianity. In 1723 he builds a church 
farther in the interior, with the intention of making it the 
seat of his mission. But an unavoidable accident puts an end 
to this design. For when the church is so far finished that 
the beams and rafters are laid for the roof, the Padre is sum- 
moned one day to attend the deathbed of one of his Indians. 
During his absence one of the terrible tempests, so common 
in Lower California, comes up, and the Indians take shelter 
in the unfinished church. The storm increases, the church is 
prostrated, and several Indians are buried under it ! Padre 
Napoli hastens to the spot, and does everything in his power 
for the relief of the sufferers. But his benevolent acts are 
misunderstood. The living are thoroughly incensed at the 
death of their friends, and begin to concert schemes to de- 
^roy the Padre. From this they are at length dissuaded by 
LaB repeated assurances of the survivors, that they retired to 
the church of their own choice, so that in time all becomes 
quiet again. The church is built and dedicated to San Jago ; 



228 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

some ground cleared and sown with maize ; and comfort is slow 
ly increasing among them. He spends three years among this 
slothful and stupid people, during which time he baptizes ninety 
adults, and about four hundred children. 

The Padres have now for many years sustained a limited in- 
tercourse with the Cochimies of Tierra de San Vincente. They 
have frequently expressed a strong desire to have a Padre 
among them who would teach them to become Christians. But 
no opportunity has offered of founding a mission in their terri- 
tory, till the year 1727, when Padre Juan Baptiste Luyando, 
a Mexican Jesuit of fortune, arrives at Loretto, and offers not 
only to endow, but to be the founder of a mission. His offers 
are gratefully accepted by the Padres. The seat of the mis- 
sion has been selected by Padre Sistiaga of Santa Rosalia 
Mulege, during his frequent visits among the Indians of that 
vicinity. To this spot, therefore. Padre Luyando travejs, ac- 
companied by nine soldiers, in January, 1728, and arrives on 
the twentieth of the same month. The natives having been ex- 
pecting a Padre for some time, hail his arrival with much joy, 
and flock to his tent in great numbers. Many of them are 
already acquainted with the catechism, and nearly all have re- 
ceived some instruction from Padre Sistiaga. Padre Luyando, 
therefore, finds his task comparatively easy. The Indians are 
very readily persuaded to destroy all their implements of 
sorcery and abandon the foolish and superstitious arts in which 
they have placed their faith. Some of the Catechumens re- 
turn to their rancherias after receiving baptism, but many 
remain. The Padre has about five hundred at the mission 
during the first six months. At the end of this time his pro- 
visions beginning to fail, he despatches seven of his soldiers 
with letters to Loretto, asking supplies; meanwhile the two 
that remain together with the Indians, commence building a 
ehurch, which is finished and dedicated on Christmas day. 
The Padre's heart is so encouraged by his success that he not 
only undertakes the instruction of all who come to him, but 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 229 

likewise makes excursions in scarcli of new objects on wbich to 
expend his labors. 

He finds all his people docile, kind, vivacious, and active. 
Their district is well adapted to agriculture. Padre Sistitiga 
bad some time before sown maize on some of it, which yielded 
well ; and Padre Helen had introduced the culture of garden 
vegetables ; for all of which the Indians have acquired a relish. 
So that Padre Luyando has little difficulty in leading them 
into agricultural pursuits. He plants with his own hands five 
hundred vines, besides olive and fig trees, sugar canes, and many 
other exotic plants. He induces the Indians to sow considerable 
quantities of wheat and maize annually ; so that on the fourth 
year of his residence among them, the whole harvest amounts 
to a thousand bushels of wheat, and a fine quantity of maize 
and fruits. He also persuades them to form themselves into 
villages, and to erect adobie and bough-houses. He introduces 
cattle, and makes every eiFort to create among them the desires 
of civilized life. And there is no doubt in the Padre's mind, 
that the adaptation of their country to the pursuits of hus- 
bandry, will greatly facilitate his wishes for their spiritual im- 
provement. But in the meantime all is not as fair as it 
seems. 

The old jugglers and priests of their former religion, so lately 
held in great respect, see their power and wealth fading under 
the new order of things, and themselves becoming objects of 
contempt to the younger members of the tribe. It is not in the 
nature of civilized or uncivilized man, to bear such a change 
with indifi*erence ; and these men resolve to use what influence 
they have left, to recover their rank. Accordingly they insti- 
gate some unconverted Indians to oppose the Padre's labors by 
every available means. On a dark night, therefore, eight of 
them fall upon a catechumen, near the Padre's cottage, and 
murder him. After this outrage, they persuade a whole ran- 
cheria, at some distance from the mission, to refuse all intercourse 
with the Padre. In this neighborhood, for two years, bands of 
malcontents shelter themselves, and dissuade the people from 



230 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

yielding to any advances from the Christians. And when at 
length three of its people are baptized, they are obliged to take 
refuge in the house of the Padre, from the fury of their disaffect- 
ed relatives. 

To all these outrages, the Padre makes no resistance, and for 
the evil, return? love, patience, and uniform kindness. Indeed., 
were he disposed to chastise them, he has not the power. His 
feeble force would be useless against an active, vigilant and 
fearless band of savages. He therefore betrays no disposition 
to punish these wrongs. He has not yet learned from experi- 
ence, that undue forbearance is neither wisdom nor virtue. 
Some of the wild unconyerted Indians, therefore, restrained by 
no fear of chastisement, falling upon a Christian rancheria, 
murder two men and a little girl. The remainder succeed in 
escaping to the mission. The Padre's people wish to avenge 
this outrage, but he restrains them, in the hope that forbearance 
may yet be effectual with these bad men. In this he is mis- 
taken. The savages concluding, from the quiet manner in 
which he submits to their treatment, and also from some kind 
messages and presents which the Padre has sent them, that he 
is helpless and fearful, are emboldened to attack other ran- 
cherias, and plunder the Christians wherever they meet them. 
These last outrages awaken in the Padre a determination to 
prevent their recurrence. He assembles his converts, and with 
them retires to Guadaloupe for safety. Effective measures are 
now taken. Three hundred and fifty converted Indians are 
armed ; and having, by the Padre's permission, elected their 
own leader, they march against their foes with great spirit and 
determination. They find them encamped near a watering 
place at the base of a mountain. During the night they suc- 
ceed in surrounding them, and at day-break, raising the war 
shouts, advance on all sides upon the sleeping enemy. Finding 
themselves thus completel}^ hemmed in by a force greatly su- 
perior to their own, they lay down their arms. Only two es- 
cape. The others, thirty-four in number, are taken to the mis- 
sion as pri^'oners. 



TRAVELS IN THE CA^IFORNIAS. 23 1 

When thanks have been duly returned for this signal and 
easy victory, a court is organized from the soldiers and In- 
dian Alcaldes, for the trial of the prisoners. They are con- 
victed of the capital crimes of rebellion, robbery, and murder, 
and sentenced to be removed to Loretto for punishment. They 
are very much dejected at the prospect of death. The Indians 
of the mission are elated with the hope of being permitted to 
execute them. But the Padres assure the prisoners that they 
shall not die ; and reprove the unchristian exultation of their 
people ; instructing them that as Christians they should exer- 
cise charity and forgiveness toward all men. Meantime some 
of the converts are so gently disposed toward the prisoners that 
they beseech the Padres to convene the court the next day, 
that the sentence may be reconsidered. The Indian converts 
now come before the soldiers and Indian Alcaldes, begging 
them to make the sentence of their enemies lighter. After some 
deliberation it is commuted to a certain number of lashes. The 
punishment is first inflicted on the principal murderer. The 
Padres then pray that it may be confined to him. This is most 
unwillingly complied with. They are therefore deprived of 
their arms and liberated. 

The prayers of the Padres are answered in the efi'ect which 
this treatment has upon their enemies. In a few months all 
these prisoners have become catechumens. The victory and 
lenity are of great service to the missionaries. The former in- 
timidates the unconverted Indians, the latter shows the excel- 
lence of the precepts of Christianity. Padre Luyando, however, 
now finds his health so much impaired that he must leave the 
mission to recruit his exhausted energies. The Indians are deep- 
ly pained at parting with him. But his place is well filled by 
the kind and active Padre Sistiaga. 

The years 1729 and '30 bring heavy misfortunes on the mis- 
sions of California, in the death of two of the oldest and most 
valued laborers among them ; Padre Piccolo and Padre 
Ugarte. Both these men have by long years of the most 
arduous and faithful service, woven their names inseparably 



232 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

with the history of California, and left in their characters and 
lives, an example to all who would rear the cross in the solitary 
■wilderness. Bold, indefatigable, self-denying, just, and true 
men, they were, who never shrank from any duty, however se- 
vere, and were never swerved by passion or love of ease, from 
the line of action marked out by judgment, truth and religious 
faith. 

Padre Piccolo expires in the garrison at Loretto, on the 
twenty-second of February, 1729, having lived seventy-nine 
years, twenty-two of which he has spent among the missions 
of California. Padre Ugarte follows him the next year, having 
been thirty years a laborer on the same ground. The deaths 
of these excellent men are momentous events in the missions. 
Their great experience, their uniform kindness, their zeal, 
tempered by wisdom and sagacity, their unblemished integrity, 
and the veneration in which their very names are held by the 
Indians, make them powerful co-operators with the young and 
active missionaries, even though age and debility forbid them 
a personal participation in their labors. At this time, too 
their presence is particularly desired, for the southern na 
tions, never much relied on, are growing turbulent. The un 
converted among them, and there 'are many of these notwith 
standing the efforts of Padre Bravo at La Paz, Padre Napoli 
at San Jago, and Padre Guillen at Dolores, lose no occasion 
to insult and annoy those who have embraced the cross. 
They become so troublesome that in 1723, Captain Kodriguez, 
with a company of soldiers, marched into their districts, to 
intimidate them, and, if possible, put an end to their outbreaks. 
In 1725, also, he finds it necessary to go with an armed force 
against some rancherias of Uchities and Guaycuros, who have 
been stimulated into rebellion, by a few mulattoes and mesti- 
zoes, renegades of foreign privateers, that have touched at Cape 
San Lucas. These difficulties will ripen into fearful scenes. 
Another attempt is now made to found an establishment at 
Palmas bay, the original seat of the mission San Jago de loa 
Coras. It is endowed by the Donna Rosa de la Penna, cousin 



TRAVELS IN THE v; A L I F 3 N I A S 233 

of the Marquis de Ville Puente. This individual also offers 
to endow a third, in the neighborhood of Cape San Lucas. 
About this time, Padre Josef de Echeveria, the Mexican agent 
for California, is appointed by the papal court, Visitor General 
of the Jesuit missions ; and he resolves to commence his visi- 
tation in California. Purchasing in Cinaloa, therefore, a bark 
to supply the place of one that, with a year's provisions, a few 
weeks before has been lost, he embarks at Ahome, and on the 
twenty-seventh day of October, arrives safely in Loretto bay, 
where he is received with great respect and affection by the 
Padres, and their Indians. Soon after his arrival, he is attack- 
ed with a most malignant fever. For many days his life is 
despaifed of, but he recovers ; and while yet very feeble, leaves 
the garrison for the northern missions, with only the ensign, 
one soldier, and a few Indians. 

The Visitor finds great cause of rejoicing in the con- 
dition of the missions. The economy, neatness and order of 
everything connected with rhem, the quiet and regular con- 
duct of the Indian converts, and their progress in knowledge 
of temporal things, the patience, kindness and industry of the 
Padres, the good understanding between them and their peo- 
ple, and most of all, the progress Christianity has made in the 
bosom of the wilderness, touch the Padre's heart with the 
hveliest joy. In a letter dated the tenth of February, he says, 
" I was well rewarded for the fatigue and cold, were it only 
in seeing the fervor of these new Christian establishments. 
And the least I could do was to shed tears of joy at so fre- 
quently hearing God praised from the mouths of poor crea- 
tures, who very lately did not so much as know whether there 
was such a being." 

After examining the missions of the north. Padre Echeveria 
prepares to visit those of the south, and establish the two mis- 
sions which have been endowed at Palmas bay and Cape San 
Lucas. But death and ill-health among the Padres render it 
impossible to carry both these plans into execution. Padre 
Segismund Taraval has been appointed to the charge of th« 



234 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

former, called Santa Rosa, in honor of the foundress j but does 
not arrive. And it is determined, therefore, to commence 
that at San Lucas, called San Jose del Cabo. This is a post 
which requires great integrity, zeal and address. Padre 
Tamaral, founder of the mission La Purissima, is therefore 
chosen to fill it. This Padre and the Visitor General embark 
on the tenth of March, and visiting on their way at the mis- 
sions of La Paz and San Jago de los Coras, proceed to San 
Lucas, and finding an agreeable spot a short distance from 
the Cape, erect a chapel and houses ; and though only about 
twenty families present themselves, the Padre founder enters 
upon his labors. As soon, however, as the Padre Visitor with 
his two soldiers leave the spot, they come in great numbers to 
Padre Tamaral, assigning as a reason for not appearing 
sooner, that they feared the Padres had come with the soldiers, 
to punish their assaults on the missions of San Jago and La 
Paz. Padre Tamaral makes a journey in search of the 
rancherias and the people whom he is to teach, and also of a 
better site for his mission. The present one is infested 
with musquitoes and other insects ; the dampness and extreme 
heat also render it intolerable. On becoming acquainted 
with the country, he determines to remove the mission to a 
spot about five leagues from the sea ; and proceeds at once 
to erect a chapel and houses on the new site. He labors in- 
cessantly to induce the natives who have hitherto led wander- 
ing lives, to settle in fixed habitations ; and so successful is he, 
that in one year he has instructed and baptized one thousand 
and thirty -six souls ; and so far as their indolent roving cha- 
racter will permit, has bettered their temporal welfare. 

In the year 1730, Padre Tamaral undertakes to survey the 
islands which lie near the Pacific coast. Accompanied by six 
Indians, he sets out on the festival of San Xavier, and after 
travelling six days by land, reaches one of the capes or head- 
lands of a large bay, which he calls San Xavier. From this 
point they see two islands, lying some seven or eight leagues 
from the coast, which they determine to visit. Accordingly 



TRAVELS IN THE C A L . F O R N I A S . 235 

having constructed a raft of timber, they pass over to the 
nearest one, and find it a small desert, not moie than half a 
mile in length, and less in width. It is a bank of dry sand, 
witii neither a drop of water, nor a leaf of verdure upon it. 
It is called by the Indians Asegua, on account of the immense 
flocks of birds which frequent it. Among these is a small jet 
black bird, something larger than a sparrow, which burrows 
in the sand, ane makes its nest some four feet below the sur- 
face, retiring to it at night only, and living all day in the sea. 
There is another bird quite unlike any known to the Padre. 
It is about the size of a goose, with black wings, a snowy 
breast, and hght-colored feet, and a beak like the carnivora. 
This also makes its nest three or fom- feet below the surface 
It is a lover of storm and tempest, and never retires to its nest 
except when the sea is calm. These birds are hunted by the 
Indians for food. About four or five leagues distant from this 
island, lies another, called by the Indians Amalgua, or fog 
island. It is several leagues in circumference, and of a tri- 
angular form. In its midst rises a conical mountain of con- 
siderable height. It has several fresh-water springs ; but no 
anchorage protected from the sea. Deer and rabbits live 
upon it. Among the latter is a small black species wdth fur 
finer than that of the beaver. It is frequented by a variety 
of birds, and sea-wolves, on which its inhabitants chiefly sub- 
sist. They find also a fruit here called mexcales, which is 
juicy and very pleasant. A variety of beautiful shells lie on 
the shore ; some of an exquisite azure hue. From the top of 
the mountain on this island, the explorers have a view of 
two other small ones, eight or ten leagues to the westward 
There are also in the bay of San Xavier three other small 
Klands, which are frequented by the sea-wolf and beaver 
Farther northward they discover others, which they conjecture 
to be those that form the channel of Santa Barbara. They 
can obtain no information respecting these latter from the 
people of Amalgua. For they inform the Padre that their 



236 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

sorcerers have prohibited them all intercourse with tneir in- 
habitants, and even the privilege of looking toward them. 
The Padre finds no difficulty in persuading the people of 
Amalgua to accompany him to the mission. The only oppo- 
sition arises from an old sorcerer. But his influence effects 
nothing. Even his own wife proposes to leave him if he will 
not go with them. And he also finally consents. They em- 
bark, therefore, on their raft for the coast ; but are obliged to 
seek shelter from a storm, on the desert island of Asegua, and 
remain there several days. With the return of fair weather, 
they put off again for the continent. As they are floating 
along close in shore, they discover some sea-wolves disporting 
themselves on a sand bank ; and the sorcerer, anxious to vent 
his ill-humor upon something, and being a dexterous swim- 
mer, plunges into the water for the purpose of killing one of 
the animals. They all flee at his approach ; but in attempt- 
ing to return to the raft he is seized, in sight of the whole 
company, by an enormous shark ! By some extraordinary 
feat, however, he clears himself; and, not satisfied with this, 
throws the blood, which issues from his wounds, at the hun- 
gry fish ! He is seized a second time with a hold not so 
shaken off. The exasperated fish goes down with him ; and 
no trace of his existence is left, except a faint red tinge which 
slowly rises, and fades into the deep green of the sea ! 

Padre Taraval now receives orders from the Visitor General 
to proceed at once to the erection of his new mission among 
the Coras, at Palmas bay. It is particularly desirable that it 
shall go into early operation. For the continual presence of 
the Padres is indispensable to keep these turbulent and 
deceitful people in subordination. All preparation being 
therefore speedily made, Padre Taraval travels from Loretto 
to the bay of La Paz, thence to the mission of San Jago, 
at Palmas bay, and founds his mission on the old site 
of San Jago. He finds his people somewhat advanced 
by the former efforts of Padre NapoU, and the visits which 
they have received from Padres Carranco and Tamaral. 



TRAVELS IN THE jJALIFORNIAS. 237 

Nevertheless, he meets with so much violent opposition, that 
it requires all his address to advance his objects in such manner 
as not to arouse these Indians' malevolence. But he succeeds, 
not only in bringing a great part of the unconverted to seek 
baptism, but also in winning their confidence and affection to 
guch a degree, that at a future period they save his life at the 
risk of their own. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



A Rebellion attempted — Arrival from the Seas — The Sick — ^Departure — 
Disaflfection among the Indians — Insurrection — Fearful Times — 
Martj^rdom of Padres Carranco and Tamaral — All the Missions in a 
State of Revolt — The Padres retire to Loretto — Aid denied by the 
Viceroy — It comes from the Indians themselves — The Missions in the 
North send Delegates to the Padres — Peace made and Padres resume 
their Labors — Southern Missions Recovered — Indians reduced to 
Subjection — Condition of the Conquest in 1745. 

Meantime, in the winter of 1733-4, some signs of revolt 
have appeared in the missions San Jago and San Josef. The 
chief, called Boton, the offspring of an Indian and a negro, a 
most profligate mulatto, who has been reproved by the Padre 
Carranco, for some of his excesses, and afterward continuing 
in the same practices, has been punished publicly, allies him- 
self with another mulatto, named Chicori, belonging to the 
mission San Josef, whom the Padre has also chidden on ac- 
count of similar vices. These miserable men seek revenge. 
Accordingly they excite the unfriendly Indians in every possi- 
ble way to an outbreak at San Jago. Padre Tamaral hearing 
of this, and unsuspicious that the like is growing in his own 
mission, hastens to San Jago to assist Padre Carranco in 
quelling the difficulties. Boton being absent when he ar- 



238 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

rives, little disposition exists among the Indians to persist ; and 
Padre Tamaral proposes to return to his own mission. But 
he is informed by a friendly Indian that Boton and Chicori, 
with two bodies of men, are stationed on his route, to kill 
him. Being satisfied of the truth of this report by men dis- 
patched to reconnoitre, the Padre sends to his catechumens at 
San Josef, to arm themselves and go in quest of the enemy. 
These, faithful to their teacher, put them to flight, burn their 
dwellings, and escort the Padre home in peace and triumph. 
The leaders of the rebellion now come in, and beg for peace. It 
is concluded in 1734, with the great rejoicings of both parties. 
When all is settled, the Indians confess their intention to have 
murdered all the missionaries in the country. A few days after 
this, some Indians who have been fishing off Cape San Lucas, 
come running to the mission with much joy and wonder express- 
ed in their countenances, and inform the Padre that a large 
ship is near the Cape, standing directly toward the bay San 
Barnabe. The Padre sends a young man of Loretto to ascer- 
tain what this report means, and soon learns that a Philippine 
galleon has come to anchor in the bay, and has sent a party of 
armed men ashore for water. The mariners of this vessel are 
much rejoiced to hear that a mission has been erected in the 
neighborhood; and inform the good Padre that, besides their 
want of water, they are so dreadfully afflicted with the scurvy 
that they require his kindest attentions. The Padre, therefore, 
orders his Indians to collect fresh acid fruits and convey 
them on board. At the same time he directs the greatest 
part of the cattle to be driven down for the use of the 
afflicted mariners, encourages the Indians to assist them in 
filling their water vessels, and otherwise shows them every at- 
tention within his power to bestow. Under such treatment, all 
the sick speedily recover, except three. These are more dis- 
eased than the others ; and accordingly, when the ship is ready 
to sail, they are invited to remain at the mission. Their 
names are, Don Josef Francisco de Baytos, Captain of Ma- 
rines, Don Antonio de Herrera, boatswain, and the Most Bev. 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 239 

Dommgo de Horbigoso, of the order of San Augustine. They 
are commended to Padre Tamaral, by Captain Don Geronimo 
Montero, and the Padre Commissary, Matthias de Ibarra. 
The Captain informs Padre Tamaral that the galleon will al- 
ways put in here for water and the recovery of the sick ; and 
desires that a supply of cattle may be kept on hand for them. 
This the Padre promises, and the galleon weighs anchor for 
Acapulco. 

The Padre takes his three patients to the mission, and de- 
votes his tenderest skill and assiduity to their recovery. Every 
luxury or delicacy the region affords is kept exclusively for their 
comfort. He sends to the neighboring missions for the best of 
their stores, and gives them his own food to eat. In a word, he 
spares no self-denial or care for their benefit ; and has the plea- 
sure of seeing them all recover. But the boatswain is attacked 
by another disease, which proves fatal, and is buried with proper 
solemnity, in the little church. In the following April, Cap- 
tain Baytos and Padre Horbigoso, being entirely recovered, 
leave San Josef for Mexico, in a vessel which has come up from 
La Paz for that purpose. 

The Padre missionaries continue their labors; patiently 
hoping that these miserable Indians will, in time, come to 
such a state of comfort as shall, in some measure, compensate 
them for their efforts. In the summer of 1734, Padre Gordon, 
of La Paz, goes to Loretto to hasten the supplies for his own 
and the other missions of the south. Don Manuel Andres 
Romero, who superintends the mission during his absence, 
discovers some disaffection among the Indians. It seems, 
however, easily allayed. They appear happy and tranquil. 
But under this appearance, a most sanguinary spirit is at 
work ! The Indians are becoming weary of the restraint im- 
posed on their beastly propensities by the presence and rule 
of the Padres. The greatest trial, is the abrogation of their 
old laws, permitting polygamy. They are also prevented 
from entering into those bloody wars which have so long been 
their principal pastime; and from seeking revenge on thoso 



240 «5CENE8 IN THE PACiriC. 

who injure them. Altogether, the restraint of Christianity, thf 
personal malignity of Boton and Chicori, and the defenceless 
state of the missions, encourage these ignorant savages to at 
tempt a revolt and the butchery of those whom they esteem theii 
oppressors. It must not be understood that there are none 
among the converted to oppose so wicked a step, and abide by 
their spiritual fathers through all the troubles which follow. 
On the contrary, large numbers feel the deepest grief and shame 
at the conduct of their countrymen. But only a small portion 
of all the natives have ever professed Christianity. So that if 
none of these are unfaithful, the majority will be greatly in 
favor of the rebels. 

The insurgents find some difficulty in concocting their plains. 
Their only fear is lest the arms of the soldiers shall do better 
execution than their own. And although among the four mis- 
sions of Santa Bosa, La Paz, San Jago and San Josef, there 
are but seven, two of whom are invalids, they turn their first 
attention to disposing of them. The first act of violence, there- 
fore, is the murder of one of Padre Taraval's soldiers, whom 
they fall upon when alone and unarmed, at some distance from 
the mission. They next repair to the Padre, and inform him 
that the man is suddenly taken very ill in the woods, and de- 
sires him to come to his relief. The Padre, having received 
some vague hints of the rising difficulties, suspects all is not 
right; and on questioning them closely, concludes from their 
confused manner, that they have murdered the man, and intend 
to draw him from the house alone for the same bloody pur- 
pose. He therefore declines going or sending a second sol- 
dier ; but does not in any other way show suspicion or 
fear. In a few days this murder is followed by that of Bon 
Andres Romero, at La Paz. This remains some time a secret 
among the perpetrators; so that they are encouraged by theae 
successes to more open demonstrations in the district of San 
Jago ; all which the Padre, from his defenceless condition and 
his desire to avoid provoking the Indians, suflFers to pass Tit'^- 
out notice. 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 24 1 

About this time Padre Tamaral is attacked with a dangercus 
disease ; and being alone with the Indians of his mission, he 
sends for a soldier from Loretto to act as guard, nurse and 
physician. This soldier, after his arrival at San Jago, becomes 
convinced that danger broods among the savages. He commu- 
nicates his thoughts to Padre Tamaral, and offers to carry him 
to La Paz. But the latter thinks his fear magnifies the danger, 
and refuses to go. The soldier declares he will not stay there 
to die at the hands of bloodthirsty Indians ; but he cannot pre- 
vail upon the Padre to accompany him. lie leaves him, there- 
fore, and goes directly to La Paz. As usual, on his arrival, he 
fires his musket at a certain distance from the mission, to give 
notice of his approach. But no answer is made. lie walks up 
to the house. All is silent and solitary as the tomb ! A rifled 
portmanteau, some broken utensils and furniture, and some drops 
of blood on the floor, tell a story which thrills the breast of the 
solitary man ! He hastens on to Dolores, a distance of sixty 
leagues, through a wilderness ; a long road for a single man, 
when death lurks under every bush and tree ! 

He arrives safely, however, and immediately acquaints Padre 
Guillen with the state of affairs below. The Padre immediate- 
ly sends instructions to his brother to withdraw to Dolores. 
But close upon the heels of the previous tidings, follow letters 
from Padre Carranco, informing him of an insurrection among 
the Pericues, and requesting instructions how to proceed. — 
Orders are therefore dispatched for all to repair to La Paz, 
whither he sends a canoe and seventeen faithful Indians, to 
bring them to Dolores. But the letters never reach the hands 
for which they are written ! At the same time Padre Carranco 
sends a body of Christian Indians to Padre Tamaral at San 
Josef, entreating that he will permit them to escort him to his 
mission for safety and counsel. The Padre replies, that no 
signs of danger have appeared in his mission ; that he thinks 
fear augments small things to great ; that he trusts in God, 
whom he desires to serve in life and death ; and does not think 
his condition such as to justify him in forsaking his mission 



242 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

The Indians who have been sent for him, on their return 
fall in with a party of rebels, and inform them that Padre 
Carranco is made acquainted with all their plans by the boy 
who lives in his house. They therefore change their design 
of falling upon Padre Tamaral. It is deemed more important 
to cut off Padre Carranco, in order to prevent his giving in- 
formation of their purposes, or calling aid from other missions. 
They communicate their plans to some of the converted In- 
dians of San Jago, and with menaces and warnings, invite 
them to join their party. After some wavering they do so ; 
and the whole body moves toward the mission to take the life 
of their best friend and benefactor. They reach it between 
six and seven in the morning, on Friday, the first of October 
1734. 

The good Padre has just left the chapel after Mass, and is 
engaged at his private devotions in his own chamber. They 
first inquire for the two mestizos, or half-breeds, who act as 
the Padre's guard ; and are informed that they have gone, by 
his order, to drive in two animals for the use of the mission. 
These then are not in the house to fire upon them. Neverthe- 
less, conscious of criminal intentions, they keep at a safe dis- 
tance and send in messengers, with the letter of Padre Ta- 
maral. Padre Carranco is on his knees praying, when 
they enter. But he rises and receives them affectionately ; 
expresses his surprise that Padre Tamaral is not come with 
them ; and asks if they bring no letter ? They say " Yes," 
and give it to him. The Padre begins to read ; and when ab- 
sorbed in its contents, the whole body of conspirators rush tu- 
multuously into the house. Two of them seize and drag him 
out between the house and the church, and there hold him by 
the gown, while others stab him through the body with arrows ! 
And while his blood flows from the wounds, the dying Padre 
offers most earnest prayer to God that He will accept this 
sacrifice of his life for his own sins and those of his deluded 
Indians 1 



TRAVELS IN THE C A L I F O R N I A P . 243 

After the wretches see that the Padre's life is far spent, they 
whip him with sticks, and bruise him with stones ! His last 
word is a prayer for his murderers ! Meantime one of them 
sees the boy who waited on the Padre, crying bitterly at the 
death of the good man, and says to him, " Why do you cry ? 
Go now, and tell the Padre what is doing in the rancherias!" 
Another adds scornfully, " as he loved the Padre, it is but rea- 
sonable he should go and keep him company ;" and taking him 
by the feet, they dash out his brains upon the floor and walls 
of the house, and cast him into the place where others 
are beating and stoning the cold body of the good old Car- 
rauco. 

The uproar of these infernal proceedings brings together In- 
dians of all ages and sexes. Some are indignant at such inhu- 
manity ; but dare not interpose to stop its progress. For 
among the murderers are some of the principal converts, even 
those who have been sent to escort Padre Tamaral from San 
Josef; the very men who joined the Padre in his morning de- 
votions, are now sharing the rancor and fury of others against 
him. Some are heaping wood together to burn him ; others are 
dragging his bloody and disfigured body, bristling with arrows, 
and still manifesting signs of life, toward the flaming pile ! 
Here they strip him, not so much for the sake of his raiment, as 
to heap their execrable insults upon the naked body of him who 
dared to reprove their infamous bestialities ! The shocking 
enormities practised upon his corpse, their revolting scurrility 
and lewdness while tramping, shouting, and jeering over his re- 
mains, must not be written. These, and all other parts of this 
terrible tragedy, show that the new doctrine of chastity and 
other Christian laws connected with the wedded state, particu- 
larly that which forbids a plurality of wives, are the chief causes 
of this malignity and murder ! 

And now, amid savage shouts, outrages and dancings, lasci- 
viousness, shocking pollutions and execrations, they raise upon 
their shoulders the body of the venerable Lorenzo Carranco 
and his little servant, and tumble them together upon the 



244 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

funeral pile ! They next proceed to pillage the house and 
church ! The clothing and such furniture as they can use they 
keep. The crucifixes, the statues of saints, the altars, the cha- 
lice, the missal, and other things used in worship, they heap 
upon the burning body of the Padre. Amidst the wild exulta- 
tions which accompany this act of contempt toward the religion 
of their murdered friend, the two domestics of the Padre come 
with the mules. Around these, as fresh objects of a fury 
not yet exhausted, they gather, and bid them kill the ani- 
mals. No sooner have they done it, than the demon crowd 
pour a shower of arrows into them, and while still shriek- 
ing in the agonies of death, throw them upon the burning 
pile. 

After perpetrating these cruelties at San Jago, the murder- 
ers go toward the mission of San Josef. Their number is now 
greatly increased. The disaffected from all the southern parts 
of the peninsula, with many of the well-disposed who have join- 
ed them to save their own lives, are gathered together. This 
company now approach San Josef. It is the Sabbath. Pa- 
dre Tamaral's prayers for his poor benighted flock have been 
offered at dawn. It is now eight o'clock. He is sitting in 
his house, meditating on the means of extending his useful- 
ness to these wretched Californians, when a party of the sedi- 
tious, consisting chiefly of the Indians of his own mission, 
break in upon him, all demanding something, in order that, 
being refused, they may have a cause of quarrel with him. 
Perceiving their design, however, the Padre replies mildly, 
*' Stay, my children, there is enough in the house to content 
you all." Being thus disappointed in getting a pretense for 
resentment, and not waiting even to contrive any other excuse, 
the very men who killed the Padre at San Jago, beat Padre 
Tamaral to the ground, drag him by the feet out of the house, 
and shoot arrows into his body. After this, the multitude 
rush up and demand that his throat shall be cut with the knife 
which he was accustomed to use in giving them food. This 
good man, like his brother martyr, prays for his murderers ! 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 245 

A villain approaclies him with the knife. He implores God 
to save the soul of him who is about to slay him ! The fatal 
blow is struck ! The dying man commends himself and his 
sinning flock to the Great Shepherd of the human rac€, and 
while uttering the name of the Saviour, expires ! They prac 
tice more abominable insults upon the body of Padre Tamaral 
than they have upon that of Padre Carranco. And now be- 
ing relieved from the fear of their victims, a great multitude 
of all ages assemble, and, for many days, celebrate their vil- 
lanies with that most brutish licentiousness with which, 
in the time of their infidelity, they used to solemnize their 
victories ! 

The delay occasioned by these infernal orgies saves the 
life of Padre Taraval at Todos Santos. A boy belonging to 
this village happens to be in San Jago on the day of Padre 
Carranco's murder ; and while the rebels go to San Josef, he 
hastens home and relates what he has seen to an old man of 
his raucheria, who immediately induces him to tell the Padre. 
The old man offers to convey the Padre to a neighboring island, 
and with his friends, die, if need be, in his defence; but thinks 
it out of their power to protect him at the mission. While 
they are counselling, the boy's narrative is confirmed by the ar- 
rival of some Indians belonging to Santa Kosa, who have wit- 
nessed Padre Tamaral's martyrdom. There is now no more 
hesitation. To stay will be madness ; nay, a suicide, which can 
answer no good purpose, since the Padre's presence can protect 
no one else. Indeed, there is little if any danger to others. 
For they only desire to destroy the Padres, that they may enjoy 
all the savage liberty of butchery and vice, which they exer- 
cised before these men came among them. 

On the night of the fourth of October, therefore. Padre Tara- 
val taking with him, from Todos Santos, the furniture of the 
altar, repairs to the bay of La Paz, and taking all the orna- 
ments and consecrated utensils of the mission at this place, goea 
on board the boat which Padre Guillen has sent in compli- 
ance with Padre Carranco's request, and sails for the Island 



246 SCENES IN THE. PACIFIC. 

del Spiiitu Santo, where he fortunately meets another heat 
with provisions and guards from Loretto. With these the 
good man hastens to Dolores, in order to prevent the savages 
from executing their bloody intentions against Padre Guillen. 
He arrives safely, and finds the good Padre overwhelmed with 
sorrow at the fate of the beloved Carranco. But his grief 
knows no bound when he learns that Padre Tamaral has fallen 
in the same manner, and that the four missions of San Jago, 
San Josef, Santa Kosa, and El Pilar de la Paz, are utterly 
ruined. 

While this melancholy conference is being held, the insur- 
gents, flushed with success, repair to the village of Todos San- 
tos, whence Padre Taraval has just fled. Their rage is extreme 
when they find their intended victim escaped ; they vent their 
disappointment on the Christian Indians in the neighborhood. 
Twenty-seven of these are killed. The rest flee ! 

Having now no common enemy against whom to direct their 
hatred, they fall into quarrels among themselves, and practice 
against e&ch other the same treachery and cruelty they have 
shown the Padres and Christian Indians ! 

Meantime, Padre Guillen, as superior of California, on the 
first knowledge of these outrages, writes to the Viceroy of 
Mexico, informing him of their losses, and the danger which 
threatens them, and begging immediate measures may be taken 
to repair the one and remove the other. But his Excellency 
estimates life and missionary efi"ort in California too lightly, to 
trouble himself much with the good Padre's complaints. He 
writes that he is sensible of the dangers to which they are ex- 
posed, and also of the great importance of the missions to re- 
ligion and the King ; and that he will, with pleasure, concur 
with the Padres in any statement which they shall judge proper 
to be made to their sovereign in respect to them; and will use 
his utmost interest with his Majesty, for the adoption of such 
measures as shall tend to promote their prosperity. He adds, 
that if he can obtain a warrant from his majesty to aid them, he 
will execute it in its full extent. In short, the Viceroy, like 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 247 

many modern politicians and placemen, says much that is ex- 
tremely flattering to the general cause of missions, and of the 
faithfulness and assiduity of these missionaries in particular, 
but does not raise a hand to turn the assassin's knife from their 
throats. 

In the meantime, as the rebellion increases, and some signs of 
violence appear at Dolores, the captain of the garrison at Lo- 
retto repairs thither with some soldiers. He finds Padre Tara- 
val, from whom he learns the cruel murders that have been com- 
mitted at San Jago and Josef. But as the Indians are em- 
boldened by their successes, and his band is very small, he thinks 
it prudent to remain at Dolores, and by preserving order there, 
prevent, if possible, the flame from spreading to the northern 
tribes. But notwithstanding all his precautions, the evil tidings 
go forth. As if the winds of heaven served the wicked purposes 
of the enemy, they spread in an incredibly short space of time 
from Cape San Lucas to San Ignacio, a distance of more than 
two hundred leagues, and infect the common Indians to an 
alarming extent. But the chiefs of the tribes remain firm, and 
keep the Padres informed of the designs entertained by the peo- 
ple. They also beg to be participants of any measures for pro- 
tection which may be devised. 

Padre Guillen finding afi'airs grow more and more desperate, 
and no assistance adequate to the emergency offering itself, issues 
orders early in the year 1735, for all the missionaries to repair to 
Loretto, and put themselves under the protection of the garrison. 
These orders happily are acted on without the knowledge of the 
rebels, till the Padres are beyond their reach. Padre Guillen 
once more addresses the Viceroy, informing him that all the 
missions are forsaken, and that they are still in imminent dan- 
ger, even at Loretto — for the garrison is too weak to contend 
successfully with such a body of savages as may be brought 
against it, should there, as they anticipate, be a general rising 
among the tribes. 

These dispatches are sent to the river Yaqui, in Senora, and 
thence by Indian converts to Mexico. They arrive on the thir* 



248 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

teenth of April, 1735, and the Provincial of New Spain imnie' 
diately delivers them to the Viceroy. But though he urges at- 
tention to them in two memorials, praying him to consider the 
immediate danger of the Padres, the man of authority refuses 
to do anything in the premises. The Provincial has recourse to 
his Majesty. A ship being then ready to sail for Madrid, he 
forwards to Padre Gaspar Rodero, agent general at court of the 
Society of Jesus for the Indian Provinces, who lays it before his 
Majestry, and prays his earliest action upon it. But long be- 
fore the Royal pleasure can be known in the New World, help 
has come to the little band at Loretto from the seed their own 
hands have sown. 

It appears that as soon as it became known to the more reflecting 
of the converts, that the Padres had gathered up the consecrated 
utensils of the churches, and departed to Loretto, a sense of 
shame at their ingratitude, and a conception of the value of the 
Padres' services, forced themselves upon their stupid minds, 
and made them repent their want of fidelity. Accordingly they 
now begin to act. Reciprocal messages are sent through the 
country inviting each other to rendezvous and follow the Padres 
to Loretto. They come in bands from each mission, and form 
themselves into a long procession, the head men of San Ignacio 
bearing on their shoulders the crucifixes of their mission, those 
of Nuestra Senorade Gaudaloupe, the crucifixes of their mission, 
and those of Santa Rosalia, the crucifixes of their mission ; and 
in silent sadness move on to Loretto, enter the fort and stand 
weeping before the Padres' dwelling ! They say, " You have 
baptized us ; you have taught us the name and worship of the 
true God ; you have gathered us from the dry mountains to the 
wa*-ered vales ; you have made us believe that good acts alone 
bring happiness ; you have made us your children ; will you 
now forsake us ? We cannot live as we did before we saw you ; 
we do not want to die in the crimes of our dark days !" Thus 
they reason with the Padres. '* It is not just," they say, " that 
a whole nation should sufi"er for the sins of a few ; especially 
when the mass are willing and able to deliver the criminal to 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 249 

the punishment their evil deeds merit." With one voice they 
promise to protect the Padres in every emergency. They im- 
plore them to return ; and declare that if they refuse to do so, 
they also will remain at Loretto, for they will not live without 
them and their religion ! The Padres and garrison are affected 
to tears by these evidences of contrition and attachment to the 
faith. They delay a few days in order to test the sincerity of 
the Indians. But noticing no defection they repair to their re- 
spective districts and are receiyed with tumultuous joy by their 
people. The conspirators are surrendered : some of them are 
slightly flogged ; and four of the most guilty of the band at 
San Ignacio are banished a short time from aM the mission 
premises. 

This submission and fidelity on the part of the Californians 
is followed by a most gratifying manifestation of sympathy by 
the Yaquis across the Gulf. These Indians, always noted for 
their honesty and bravery, assemble immediately upon the re- 
ceipt of Padre Bravo's letter detailing the condition of Califor- 
nia, to the number of five hundred warriors, and offer to go and 
put down the insurgents. But as the bilander, which is to con- 
vey them, can take only a fraction of that number, they select 
from among themselves sixty of their best warriors, and send 
them, with five hundred bows and arrows to arm the friendly 
Indians of the peninsula to fight in their stead. 

With these the bilander sails and lands them near Loretto. 
Thence they march to Dolores. Here they meet the commander 
of the garrison, who greets them with the warmest expressions 
of gratitude for their generous conduct; but informs them that 
tranquillity has been restored among the northern missions by 
the Indians themselves. It is therefore determined to divide 
their strength between Loretto and La Paz. Accordingly, a 
sufficient force having been left in the former place, the re- 
mainder start in two divisions, the one by the sea, the other by 
land, for La Paz. 

On the landing of the sea party, the strictest military dis' 
cipline is preserved. This precaution proves of no slight ser- 



250 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

vice. For the lawless and still bloodthirsty savages, attack 
them on several successive nights with much skill and fury. A 
few are killed and several wounded. At length the land party 
arrives. A portion of these being mounted on horses, which 
the Indians suppose to be the running gear of irresistible mon- 
sters topped with the trunks and heads of men, so intimidate 
them that they floe, and are no more seen by night or by day 
for some time. At length, however, a few re- appear and join 
the Padres' forces. These protest that they have always been 
faithful, and have consequently suffered much from the insur- 
gents. They declare that the rebels have committed some re- 
cent atrocities upon the crew of a Philippine galleon. They re 
port the affair in this wise. The ship arrived there from Ma- 
nilla, with many of her crew sorely afflicted with scurvy ; and 
as her signals were not answered from the mission, the captain 
sent the pinnace ashore with thirteen men to inform the Padre 
of his presence. As the boat neared the beach, the people were 
surprised to see neither any person nor sign of life. The 
greater part of them landed and walked toward the mission, 
but on their way the armed Indians rushed upon them and 
killed every man, or rendered him helpless, on the spot ! Hav- 
ing murdered these, they hastened to the pinnace, and finding 
those who were left in charge of it no more guarded than the 
other party had been, dispatched them also. They then seized 
the pinnace and broke it up for the old iron, nails, spikes, 
&c. While all this was going on, the captain of the galleon 
began to feel some anxiety at the long delay of his pinnace, 
and sent a band of armed marines in the long boat to seek 
her. 

A most unexpected and painful sight met the eyes of these 
seamen when they reached the shore. Their pinnace was sur- 
rounded by a swarm of leaping and furious savages. It was 
already reduced to fragments ; and the dead bodies of several 
of their companions lay upon the beach, trodden on and man- 
gled by their ruthless murderers. Dreadfully enraged at this 
sight, the mariners and soldiers leaped ashore into the thickest 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 251 

of their foes, and gave them battle. A few minutes with fire- 
arms settled the question of victory. Some of the villains were 
wounded, some killed, and four captured alive and taken on 
board the ship. The narrators saw the ship leave her anchor- 
age and stand away for the Pacific. They know nothing 
more. 

It soon appears, however, that the Captain left port without 
making any other attempt to procure water or provisions ; and 
having put into Acapulco, sent his four prisoners and an ac- 
count of the murder of his crew to Mexico. 

The Viceroy now begins to appreciate the importance of pro- 
tecting the missions of California, The lives of the Padres a 
short time before could not be preserved without a special war- 
rant from Madrid. But as his own credit at Court would suf- 
fer from the representations of the ofiicers of the galleon, it be- 
comes a moral duty to quell the insurrection. Accordingly he 
sends orders to the governor of Cinaloa to go over to the penin- 
sula with a sufiicient body of men to restore peace, but directs 
him to act independently of the Padres and never in subordination 
to the Captain of the garrison. These measures of the Viceroy 
are made known in California, and Padre Guillen, in order to 
facilitate their execution, despatches the bilander for the gov- 
ernor and his forces, and at the same time directs the Captain 
of the garrison to repair to Dolores, and there remain on the 
defensive until further orders. 

In due time the bilander returns. The governor is received 
with great respect and joy by the Padres, and with the custo- 
mary honors by the garrison. He, however, soon shows that he 
intends to reject all advice from the former, and act in the re- 
duction of the country as he shall think proper. He therefore 
spends two years in manoeuvering, and attempted hostilities 
with a fugitive foe, whom he knows not how to bring into a 
general engagement. At the close of the year 1736, he is obliged 
to confess that he has efiected nothing for the suppression of 
the rebellion. 

At this time the Padres lose one of their number — Padre 



252 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

Julian de Mayorga, founder of the mission San Josef de Com- 
mondo. He has ruled his mission ever since its origin, 1707, 
greatly to the improvement and happiness of his Indians, and in 
such manner as to win the respect and love of all who knew 
him. His death, therefore, is a cause of deep grief to his bre- 
thren and the Indians of his mission. But while Ihej lament 
for themselves that he is gone, they rejoice for him that he rests 
from the turbulence and anxiety which have been the portion of 
all for the last three years. 

The governor becoming convinced that he can accomplish no- 
thing on his present plan of proceeding, resolves to adopt the 
Padre's advice, and take some steps which shall make him a 
terror to the Indians. Accordingly he sets out with his troops 
in earnest pursuit of them, and has the good fortune to compel 
them to an action in which they are utterly vanquished. They 
have, however, been too long successful to be subdued by one 
defeat. Instead, therefore, of making any overtures of peace, 
they defy the governor and provoke his wrath in a series of 
most annoying skirmishes. He accordingly forces them to a 
second engagement, in which they are again put to rout. Soon 
after, they submit and implore his pardon. But he rejects all 
their advances until they deliver up the leaders of the rebellion, 
especially those who have murdered the Padres. 

It will be supposed that a severe punishment was inflicted ou 
these men. But the policy of the governor and Padres in Cali- 
fornia is singularly unlike that which prevails in the parent 
country. Here blood is never shed by way of revenge or 
punishment. These rebels, therefore, who have perpetrated 
two of the most revolting murders on record, beside the more 
common butcheries of their own countrymen, and the crew of 
the galleon's pinnace, are tried and banished to the coast of 
Mexico. 

On their way over, they rise and attempt to take the bark. 
This compels the mariners to fire on them and kill more than 
half their number. Among the few that escape, are the two 
whose hands shed the blood of the venerable Padres. One of 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFOilNIAS. 253 

these two is, the next year, killed in an affray ; and the other 
falls from the top of a palm tree upon some rocks, and is so 
horribly mutilated and torn as to be hardly recognizable. The 
remainder never return to their country. Thus, after three 
years of trepidation and violence, peace is restored to California. 
And it is chiefly attributable to the prudence and forbearance 
of the Padres that the whole peninsula has not been deluged 
with blood. 

The refusal of the Viceroy in the first instance to protect the 
missions without a special order from his sovereign, results in a 
commission from his Majesty requiring him to erect a new gar- 
rison at Cape San Lucas ; and to take such other measures as 
may be required to support the missions and maintain the con- 
quests of the Padres. This, like all other efforts of that nation 
ill similar matters, is made when the utility and necessity of 
action is past. 

The Governor of Cinaloa, however, proceeds to the execution 
of the order. The garrison is to be independent of the Padres, 
and of the commanding ofiicer at Loretto, and subject only to 
orders from the Viceroy. The son of the venerable Captain 
Don Estevan Roderiguez Lorenzo is appointed to the command 
of the new post. He is a native of California, and having been 
brought up by his father under the care of the missionaries, and 
being pious, brave, prudent, and well acquainted with the coun- 
try, is admirably qualified to fill the office. He has thirty sol- 
diers under his command, ten of whom he stations at the new 
camp of San Josef del Cabo,ten at the mission of La Paz, and ten 
at that of San Jago de los Coras. The young Captain, how- 
ever, is not thought to act with sufficient indifference to the ad- 
vice and opinions of the Padres ; and is therefore soon dis- 
placed by a new man from Mexico, Don Pedro Alvarez de 
Acevedo. At the same time the Viceroy orders an accession of 
five soldiers to the garrison of Loretto, and particularly directs 
that the whole force shall be independent of the missionaries. 
They shall act as an escort, indeed, during their journey ings 
but while so doing, shall be under the command of their officer 



254 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

and in nowise amenable to the Padres for neglect or disobedi- 
ence ; nor shall their entrance, discharge, oi payment be in any 
way supervised by them. 

The disorder and inconvenience growing out of this regula- 
tion, very soon became apparent. The missions are frequently 
forsaken by the guards, the Padres have much difficulty in pro- 
curing them as escorts in their visits to their parishioners ; the 
Indians are frequently oppressed by them when distant from 
their captain ; and a system of trading and chaffering commences 
between the soldiers and Indians, which dissipates much that 
the Padres have labored to establish, and seriously neutralizes 
their instructions and counsels. So much evil, however, grows 
out of this new order of things, that at the end of eighteen 
months the Viceroy abandons it ; puts the new garrison under 
a lieutenant, subject to the captain at Loretto, and makes these 
officers subordinate to the Padres. 

As soon as affairs are thus established on a firm footing, the 
Society of Jesus appoints new missionaries to gather the dis- 
persed members of the ruined missions. Meantime his Majesty, 
continuing to receive advices of the condition of California both 
from the Viceroy and the Society, is induced not only to order 
a new garrison, but to direct that the loss occasioned by the re- 
bellion shall be repaired from the Royal treasury ; and also, that 
the Council of the Indies shall lay before him the best plan for 
effectually reducing the Californias. Such means are deliberated 
upon, a plan for the accomplishment of these ends proposed, and 
orders for its execution signed by his Majesty sent to the Vice- 
roy on the thirteenth of November, 1744. He is directed to 
proceed in the execution of them without delay, and also to send 
further information. 

The reply to these dispatches reaches Madrid after the death 
of Philip V. and the accession of Ferdinand VI. His Majesty 
is even more ardent than his predecessor ; and, upon the informa- 
tion sent him, issues a more particular and full set of instruc- 
tiona than any that have preceded them. He decrees that near 
all the safe harbors settlements shall be formed and garrisons 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIPORNIAS. 257 

established ; that there shall also be a garrison and town in the 
centre of the peninsula, or as near it as may be practicable ; 
that facilities shall be afforded for establishing missions at the 
north, in order to cut off intercourse between the Californian 
Indians and those of contiguous nations ; that in each mission 
there shall be two Padres instead of one, as heretofore ; that in 
all the frontier stations there shall be a guard under the com- 
mand of the missionaries; that the expense of carrying all these 
orders into execution shall be defrayed from the Royal trea- 
sury ; and finally, that the missionaries in California shall be 
allowed the same salaries as are paid to their order elsewhere. 
These measures give great satisfaction in Mexico and California. 
The hearts of the good Padres are cheered by the assurance 
thus afforded them, that they have in their monarch an earnest 
friend, who has come forward in his strength to their aid. They 
now proceed on their pilgrimage of holy labors, with hearts full 
of grateful praise to Him whom they serve. 

With renewed energy and a patience and self-denial worthy 
of all praise, they move onward in the great work they have 
commenced. No difficulties can daunt — no obstacles shake 
their fortitude. They seem to rise above the selfish pas- 
sions of human nature and fix their hearts and their eyes 
solely on the glory of God and the advancement of his 
cause among these benighted Indians. 

In the following year a statement of the number and condition 
of the missions was drawn up by the Padres for the information 
of their sovereign. From this it appears that at that time they 
contained about twenty-five thousand converts, living com- 
fortably under the paternal government of the Jesuit Padres. 
Padres Salva Tierra, King and Ugarte are dead ; but the 
good deeds which they have done, like the grass and the flowers 
on their graves, grow greenly, bud and blossom, and shed on the 
deserts of the Californian peninsula, a perpetual harvest of tem- 
poral and religious joy. The handicrafts which they have taught 

257 



258 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

them ; the science of agriculture which they have given them ; 
the animals which they have reared around their dwellings ; the 
great idea of a God ; and the awards which He has woven ifi- 
separably with the elements of life, mind, and every condition 
of being ; the discomfort, debasement, and misery of vice ; the 
quietness, elevation, and happiness of virtue; all these, the 
Padres have scattered — seeds, bearing the fruits of the social and 
religious relations, and the numberless comforts of the civilized 
state. These integral laws of immortal rationality, have germi- 
nated among the wastes of man, under the kind planting of the 
Padres, on the Californian Peninsula. A mighty deed of moral 
suasion ! Not by the steel of conquest, which drinks the blood 
of the weak, and opens the red pathway to physical supremacy ; 
slaying body and mind ; enslaving and murdering. This con- 
quest of the Padres is a victory of Love. Instead of the torpedo, 
they plant the rose of Sharon ; instead of the starless night of 
bondage, they bring the full day of knowledge — j&lled with the 
industry, trust, faith, hope and energies, of a ripened freedom. 
Who can contemplate these Missionaries, enduring the hardships 
which have been partially related on these pages, and not vene- 
rate their memory ? They have voluntarily come from the 
shrines of early remembrances, and torn from the heart its young 
and tender impulses. They have left on the cold fields of the 
past, every tie of kindred, and the natural hopes of humanity. 
They have taken the vows of God on their souls ; separated 
their hands and thoughts from every selfish service ; and with 
bosoms bared to every shaft of possible events, entered the 
abodes of savages, shielded only by their good deeds and holy 
purposes ! They have conquered Lower California. It has be- 
come a part of the domain of the Spanish crown. 

From 1745 to 1767, the Jesuit Padres continue their labors 
at these missions. The Spanish government, meanwhile, give 
them small relief from the famines occasioned by the failure of 
their crops. They mainly depend upon the products of the mis- 
sion plantations, and the rude manufactures of the Indian arti- 
zans, for every comfort of life. And not only do they sustain 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 259 

themselves, but every year brings in the ships from the Philip- 
pine Islands, with crews rotting of the scurvy, for the Padres to 
feed, clothe, restore to health, or bury in their cemeteries. 

Their labors of love, however, draw to a close. The society 
of Jesus or Jesuits, to which they belong, has existed about two 
hundred years. It has sent its missionaries into Persia, Hindo- 
stan, China and Japan. It has written more than one hundred 
volumes in the Chinese language alone, many hundreds more in 
the different dialects of the Eastern tongues ; has chided and 
controlled the civil powers of Europe ; has made the kingdoms 
of the whole earth feel its power. The Pope himself holds his 
throne at the sufferance of this mighty association. The mo.«t 
profound learning of the age is found in their colleges, and the 
most vigorous moral movements of the times receive their life 
from them. 

Whenever the sword of Conquest is drawn over the head of 
the defenceless, the Jesuit's hand arrests its fall, or alleviates it3 
wound. In fact, on the American continent they have spanned 
the whole breadth of human society, except that part of it existing 
between the Alleghany mountains and the Atlantic, and brought 
a large majority of the native population under their control. 
In Paraguay indeed, they have organized armies, and established 
an Empire of their own; and from California to the mouth of 
the Rio de la Plata, Spain holds sway only so far as these priests 
permit. They protect the savages against the ruthless cruelty 
of Spanish barbarity. England in 1604 has expelled them from 
her dominions; Venice in 1606, Portugal in 1757, France in 
1764, Spain now in 1767, does the same. 

That government would have the sole sway over the bones, 
sinews and intellects of the Indians. Its worthless officials 
would be unrestrained in the use of them, to dig for the precious 
metals, and work their plantations. The Jesuits have prevent- 
ed this. They have uniformly befriended the Indians and ele- 
va+'^d their bodily and mental condition. They have so organized 
and enlightened them, that they can annihilate the Spanish name 
from the continent, in a day. This state of things is well known. 



260 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

A remedy is devised. Secret orders of government are issued 
from Madrid to every Alcalde and military commandant in 
Spanish territory, to prepare ships and other means of transport, 
and on a given day, nine months from the date of the edict, to 
seize and ship to Italy every Jesuit within in dominions. And 
so profoundly secret is this measure kept, and so complete in its 
execution, that on the day appointed, all the individuals of this 
order in Europe, America, and the Spanish islands, are on route, 
to the several ports from which they are to sail for their desti- 
nation. The worthy Padres of California are now, therefore, 
taking leave of their weeping converts. The whole land is sad. 
The services of the churches are interrupted with their lamenta- 
tions. The poor savages crowd about the departing Padres for 
a blessing. How shall they console their grief? Who shall 
love and labor for them ? Who shall teach, pray for them, and 
rear them step by step onward, to the high estate of a virtuous, 
enlightened and religious people ? Alas, poor Indians ! from 
this day onward, you return to vice, and fade away. 

This is the history of the conquest of Lower California, by 
the priests of the Catholic church. Religious men persuaded 
the Indians into submission to the civil authorities of Spain. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Payflre Junipero Serra — An Expedition by Sea, for the Conquest of Up- 
per California — Arrival at Loretto — Expedition by sea and land to the 
North — Arrival at San Diego — Ceremonies of Founding a Mission — A 
Battle — Going Northward— Naming the Bay of San Francisco— Return 
to San Diego — The Resolution of Padre Junipero — An Arrival — De- 
parture for Monterey — Founding a Mission, &c. — Arrival of thirty 
Monks — Other Missions Established — Padre Junipero goes to Mexico 
— Great Scarcity of Food — Padre Junipero returns by Sea — A Land 
Party from Mexico — Exploration to 55 ® N. — A Diabolical Plot at San 
Diego — A Dreadful Battle at Night — Death — Mission Destroyed — San 
Juan Capistrano — Mission and Presidio of San Francisco Founded — 
Death of Padre Junipero — Number of Missions in Upper California — 
Dates of their Establishment — Progress, Wealth and Influence of Mis- 
sions — Mexican Revolution — General Echeandra arrives in California 
— Measures taken to Destroy the Missions — A Revolution — California 
Independent — Declaration of Rights — Alvarado and Villejo — Jose 
Castro — Don Carlos Antonio Carrello — Domestic War among Califor- 
nian Freemen — Operations of the Grand Armies of the North and 
SoHth — A Victory of Noses — Return of Upper California to the Mexi- 
can Dominion. 

As related in my account of Lower California, the Jesuits, 
who have brought the Indians of the territory into subjection to 
Spain, and induced them to embrace the Catholic faith, have, in 
1 767, been expelled from these scenes of their usefulness. And 
now, that the influence of this powerful society is prostrated, the 
Government turns its attention to the conquest of the country by 
the employment of another religious order, who are supposed to 
be more subservient to the dictates of the civil authority. 

In 1768, Padre Junipero Serra, a Franciscan monk, is ap- 



262 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

pointed Missionary President of the Californias, and arrives at 
San Bias in the month of February of this year, accompanied 
by a staff of sixteen brothers of his own order, from the Con- 
vent of San Fernando. Here he meets sixteen of the expoUed 
Jesuits, in sorrow that their forsaken flocks must return to the 
misery of the savage state. These men have labored long to 
plant the tree of life in the rude soil of the savage heart ; it has 
begun to put forth its branches to the sun, and shed its odors 
over the land ; but while the fruits of their trials are being gar- 
nered, they have been compelled to retire from the harvest, and 
leave others to reap or despoil. 

On the twelfth of March, 1768, Padre Junipero and his asso- 
ciates sail for Loretto in the same vessel which has brought 
Jesuits thence, and arrive there in safety about the middle 
of the following month. Padre Junipero is a worthy succes- 
sor of those great and self-denying men who have preceded 
him in this field of martyrdom. His own peculiar faith in 
religious things is warm and far-reaching. He sees *on the 
barren heights of the Californian peninsula, many a dwelling- 
place of righteousness for future generations ; and hears in the 
solemn midnight, the voices of angels encouraging him to his 
work. The miracles wrought in the days of the primitive 
church, he believes may still be wrought by the saints militant ; 
and that the mighty arm of faith will yet bring down Omnipo- 
tence, to mould anew the distorted world. He unites with 
his zeal various and extensive learning. The ancient and 
modern languages, with all their stores of philosophy and 
eloquence, are known to him. The life of courts — the sweets 
of the social ^es — the vast and stirring acts of the world 
moving on to its civil and religious destinies, are familiar to 
hiui, for he has mingled with them, directed and enjoyed 
them. Yet Padre Junipero has landed in the wilderness 
of California, and begins the duties of a missionary among its 
Indians. 

He dispatches his brethren to the several missions north 
and south, and remains at Loretto awaiting the arrival of 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIF OKNIAS. 263 

Josef Galvoz, the Visitador General, whose commands are to 
guide him in his labors. This dignitary arrives at La Paz in 
July, with orders from his superiors to visit the missions in 
Lower California, to superintend expeditions about to be dis- 
patched to San Diego and Monterey in the upper province, for 
the establishment of missions and forts. Soon the three packet 
boats of this undertaking arrive. They are called the San Bias, 
San Carlos and San Antonio. In them are provisions, agri- 
cultural implements, and seeds of Spanish and Mexican grains, 
fruits and esculent roots, to be planted at the contemplated es- 
tablishments. They will need cattle, horses and mules. A 
party therefore is organized to drive these over the country to 
Monterey. The San Carlos is ready for sea, and the Visitador 
General fixes the day for her departure. In this vessel is Don 
Vincent Vital, Commander, Don Pedro Prat, Lieutenant, 
twenty-five Catalonian volunteers, a good ship's crew, and 
Padre Fernando Parron. 

Death has visited the Spanish vessels in these seas ever since 
Cortez' iron prow ruffled them. In all the north the freezing 
hand of the Great Destroyer is seen ! No living men on board 
the San Carlos dare unfurl the canvass till heaven is appeased. 
The red cross is therefore raised to the peak, the orange flag of 
Spain floats beneath it ; and the crew and the soldiers and 
officers, and priests with shaven crowns, are gathered on the 
deck ; the holy sacrament is administered by Padre Junipero ; 
and Mass is said to San Joself, the chosen patron of these ex- 
peditions ; the vessel and colors are blessed ; an absolution and 
benediction administered to the people ; and the vessel San 
Carlos leaves the harbor of Loretto on the ninth of January, 
1769, on her voyage to Upper California. The San Antonio 
sails from Cape San Lucas on the fifteenth of the following 
month. Her commander is Don Juan Perez. She has on board 
Padres Juan Biscayno and Francisco Gomez, and her crew. 
The San Josef leaves Loretto on the sixteenth of June of the 
game year. 

Meanwhile the land expedition is being forwarded with all 



264 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

possible dispatch. It is divided into two companies ; so that if 
one of them shall be destroyed, the other may chance to be 
saved. Don Gasper de Portala is the commissioned Governor 
of the Californias and commander of this land expedition. He 
is a captain of dragoons in the Spanish army. Captain Fer- 
nando Rivera y Moncada is his second. The latter receives 
command of the first division of the landsmen ; and in the month 
of September, 1768, takes up his line of march for the north. 
He soon arrives at a place now called Nuestra Senora de log 
Angelos, on the Indian frontier, and having found some supplies 
and baggage, sent in launches from the missions to this place, 
he proceeds eighteen leagues northward, to a valley of excellent 
pastures, wood and water, and halts. Here he remains until 
the first day of March, 1769, and again marches northward, until 
the twenty-fourth of the same month, when he arrives at the 
port of San Diego, in latitude 32*^ N. Here he finds the San 
Carlos and San Antonio at anchor. These vessels have sufi"ered 
greatly from storms and contrary winds. The first arrived on 
the first of May, 1768. Her whole people, except the ofiicers, 
cook, and one seaman, have died of the scurvy and thirst and 
hunger. The San Antonio arrived on the eleventh of April, 
having lost eight of her crew by the scurvy. The San Josef 
was not seen after she left Loretto. Don Rivera y Moncada, 
his twenty-five soldiers, his three muleteers and his converted 
Indians, Padre Crispi and a midshipman, now form a camp 
upon the green plain, and rest from the fatigues of a march 
of fifty-four days, over the dry crags of the Californian wilder- 
ness. 

The second part of the land expedition, with its mules, horses, 
black cattle, muleteers and baggage, on the thirteenth of May, 
1769, are at a place called Villacata; and Padre Junipero and 
the Governor are with them. They are waiting the arrival of 
the troops ; and while thus unemployed, examine the surround- 
ing country — find it valuable, and consecrate it to the use of the 
mission in the neighborhood called San Francisco de Borja • 
and hither this mission is to be removed. The ceremony of 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 265 

consecrating the location of this mission is worthy of being 
known. The soldiers and muleteers clear away the rubbish 
from the future site of the church — hang seven bells upon the 
trees, and form a grand cross. This is the work of the first 
day. On the second, Padre Junipero, invested in robes, blesses 
the holy water, and with it sprinkles the site of the church and 
the cross. The latter, adorned with flowers, is then erected iu 
front of the consecrated area. This mission then receives its 
name, San Josef. The first Mass is now chanted — and Padre 
Junipero pronounces a discourse upon the coming of the Holy 
Ghost. The sacrifice of the Mass is now concluded, and Veni 
Creator is sung. In the progress of all this there is a constant 
discharge of musketry. The smoke of the burning powder is 
the only incense from the mountain altars of this day's wor- 
ship. 

They leave Vellacata on the 15th of May, 1769, and direct 
their course northwardly towards the mouth of the Colorado ; 
but after traveling above thirty-five leagues, their progress is 
intercepted by a steep and rocky mountain, over which their 
cattle cannot pass. They therefore return southward as far as 
the frontier mission, San Borja. Having rested themselves and 
their animals a few days, they take a route in a north-westerly 
direction. Forty-six days do they travel. The southern half 
of their way passes through a sterile rocky country with occa- 
sional fruitful valleys skirted with timber. The northern half 
is plentifully supplied with streams of water running among 
rich savannas clothed with the wild grasses, roses, and vines 
bearing a large sour grape. The timber is not abundant — but 
on the hilis the deep loamy soil frequently produces the live 
oak and other valuable trees, and the vales which run up from 
the seaside, are often clad with heavy forests. Many Indians 
meet them. The males, both old and young, are entirely naked, 
while the females of all ages are covered with rush mats and 
skins from their breasts downward. Their food consists of 
seeds, fruits, and fish. They are uniformly familiar and friend- 
ly. On the first day of July they pitch their camp on the 



26G SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

the beach among their countrymen, at the long-sought port of 
San Diego. 

As the crews of the vessels have been thinned by death, till 
there are scarcely enough to man one of them, they cannot pro- 
ceed farther north without recruits. Accordingly the remaining 
members of both crews are put on board the San Antonio, and 
the ship dispatched to San Bias for more seamen. It is also 
determined that the Governor shall lead the principal part of 
the landsmen along the shore to Monterey. The Padre's Presi- 
dent and two missionaries and eight soldiers are therefore de- 
tached to remain at the newly consecrated mission of San 
Diego ; and Don Gasper Portala, the Governor, with one ser- 
vant, the Padres Juan Crispi and Francisco Gomez, with each 
a converted Indian to attend on him, and Don Fernando 
Rivera y Moncada with his sergeant and twenty-six soldiers, 
and his lieutenant Don Pedro Foxes, with seven Oataloniau 
soldiers, and Don Miguel Constanzo, engineer, and seven mule- 
teers and fifteen Indians from the southern missions, start over 
land to Monterey. 

They search the coast for bays and harbors, examine the 
lands and their products, pass the harbor of Monterey without 
recognizing it, go north to the Bay now called San Francisco, 
and give it that name under the following circumstances : — 
When the Padre President, Junipero, received orders from the 
Visitador General respecting the names of the new missions 
which he was sent northward to found, perceiving that the name 
of the Patron Saint of his order of priests was not among them, 
said, " And is our Father San Francisco to have no mission as- 
signed to him ?" To which the Visitador replied, " If San 
Francisco wishes to have a mission, let him show you a good 
port, and then it shall bear his name." When the Monterey 
expedition, therefore, see this unequalled bay, they exclaim, 
*' This is the port to which the Visitador referred, and to which 
the Saint has led us," and immediately called the bay Bajia del 
San Francisco. They now erect a cross on the western shora 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 267 

of the southern great arm of this bay, and having taken pos- 
session of the country in the name of their sovereign, celebrate 
the Mass, commence their return to San Diego, and arrive there 
on the twenty-fourth of January, 1770. 

During the half year occupied by this expedition, the Padre 
President Junipero is not idle at San Diego. On the sixteenth 
day of July, 1769, he consecrates the foundation of a mission. 
This is the day of the year, when in 1212, the Spaniards, under 
the banner of the cross, prostrated the power of the Mahome- 
daus in the south of Spain ; and the good Padre Junipero hopes 
that the same banner shall yet wave over the Gentiles of Upper 
California. He chants the Mass, celebrates the triumph of the 
Holy Cross, sprinkles the ground with the baptismal water of 
the Church, and calls it San Diego, or Saint James. After- 
wards he dedicates one of their huts to the use of a temporary 
church, and invites the Indians to attend service ; presents them 
food which they reject ; gives them small pieces of cloth with 
which they are greatly delighted ; yet they cannot be persuaded 
to bow before the cross, and gladden the Padre's heart by em- 
bracing the Catholic faith ; but on the contrary, they allow 
their desire for cloth to induce them in the night time to go on 
large rafts built of bulrushes to the ship San Carlos, and pur- 
loin a part of her sails. This act is followed by precautions to 
prevent its repetition ; yet as no punishment is inflicted on the 
thieves, they arm themselves with bows and arrows, wooden 
swords of keen edge, and formidable clubs, and begin to steal 
so boldly that the Spaniards find it necessary to oppose them 
by force ; and as soon as their determination to do so is mani- 
fested, the Indians resolve to accomplish thefr designs by war. 
On the thirteenth and fourteenth days of August, therefore, they 
force their way into the quarters of the people and carry off 
several garments and other valuables ; but are driven away 
without an attempt to kill any of them. On the fifteenth, it 
becomes necessary for Padre Fernando to go on board the Sau 
Carlos to celebrate the Mass with two soldiers who guard tha 



268 SCENES IN THE PACIPTC. 

ship. Padres Junipero and Biscayno are left on shore with 
only two other persons able to do duty ; and the Indians, per- 
ceiviDg the advantage to be derived from the absence of one of 
the boldest of those they would rob, gather in large numbers 
while the people are at Mass, and begin to carry away every 
thing they find, even the sheets that cover the sick ! The cor- 
poral calls " to arms !" whereupon the Indians retire a short 
distance and shoot their arrows. And now the four soldiers, 
the carpenter and blacksmith commence firing their guns. The 
latter, although he had no armor to protect him from the arrows, 
charges upon the savages, crying out, " Long live the faith of 
Jesus Christ, and die the dogs his enemies !" 

Meantime the Padre President Junipero is praying that none 
may be hurried to the world of spirits with their sins unfor- 
given. 

The battle rages on, accompanied by the terrible war-cry of 
the savages. An arrow takes effect ; a boy called Josef runs 
in great haste and prostrates himself at the Padre's feet, ex- 
claiming, " Father, give me absolation, for the Indians have 
killed me." The Padre absolves him. The arrow has passed 
through his throat ; and he immediately dies ! His death is 
kept secret and the battle continues. Many of the savages fall. 
They drag away their dead and dying, till at length, panic- 
smitten by the destructive effects of fire-arms, they flee to the 
hills in great precipitation ! 

It cannot be known how many of these savages have perished 
by this mad act. Very many are known to be wounded ; for in 
a few days their friends bring them into the mission and entreat 
the Padres to cure them : and the surgeon and the Padres treat 
them kindly till restored to health. 

Padre Biscayno, one soldier, an Indian Christian, and the 
brave blacksmith are wounded; but in a short time all the 
whites, except the poor boy Josef, are well again. This un- 
successful attack has a salutary effect on the Indians. They 
come fearfully into the mission every day, and treat the Padrea 
and the religion they teach with deference. A boy about 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 269 

fifteen years old Is among the most frequent and devout. Him 
the Padre President teaches the Spanish language, in order 
that he may learn the prayers and catechism, and act as inter- 
preter. He learns easily, and is soon able to inform his coun- 
trymen that the Padre desires to baptize their children, and 
instruct them in the Catholic faith. One is selected from the 
many which are offered, and the holy water is about to fall 
from the Padre's hand, when the parents of the child snatch it 
away, to the great grief of the Padre and the indignation of 
the soldiers. The latter in their zeal ask permission to de- 
stroy these blaspheming gentiles. The good Junipero denies 
them. 

Distress follows these Franciscans as it has the Jesuits. 
The country is unploughed and yields little food. The San 
Antonio has gone to San Bias for supplies ; but heaven only 
knows if the storms will spare her to save them from starvation. 
She has already been absent so long that they begin to fear she 
is lost. The Governor, therefore, orders an account to be taken 
of the provisions on hand, and notifies the Padre President 
that they can hold out no longer than March following ; and 
that if the ship should not arrive by San Josefs day, the 
twenty-fifth of that month, he shall abandon the enterprise, and 
commence his return to Loretto. This announcement greatly 
afflicts the Padre Junipero. Leaving the country he feels will 
carry with it for a long time to come, the abandonment of the 
Indians to their heathenism ; and he retires to his closet and 
implores aid from Heaven. God is his master ; from Him he 
seeks light. San Josef is the Patron Saint of his holy enter- 
prise ; from him he seeks celestial intercessions with the Ruler 
of events. The conversion of the Gentiles is the work which 
burdens his heart ; and he holds the cross toward Heaven and 
vows never to leave California till he has thrust the spiritual 
plough into the glebe of its moral wastes. He communicates 
his resolution to the Governor, and waits the approach of the 
eventful day with the greatest solicitude. 

The twenty -fifth of March at last comes. The Padre greets 



270 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

its dawning light with the chants of the Mass, and the celebra- 
tion of the most sacred services of the church. The people are 
called together at mid-day, and prayers are most devoutly said 
and pra'ises again sung to the Creator. 

The good Padre speaks. He draws an exhortation from the 
Laws of Grod. He exhorts as one soon to be left alone in a 
land of martyrdom. He ceases ; he blesses ; and the tide of 
thought and emotion is now setting upon the busy movements 
of the departure for Loretto, when lo ! in the offing is perceived 
the outline of a vessel standing towards the land! Was it an 
omen ! shadowed on the rim of the sky to arouse faith in God ? 
It disappears during the night ! The sun rises and sets over 
the hot seas three times afterwards, and it does not re-appear ! 
The fourth day dawns and waxes to the meridian, and wanes on 
the western waves ! And when night shuts in, the cable of the 
San Antonio rattles its rude salutation to the silent shores 
around the Bay of San Diego ! 

On the arrival of this ship with provisions and a recruit of 
men, it is determined to make another expedition to Monterey. 
A party by land and another by sea, are detailed for the under- 
taking. Both leave San Diego about the middle of April, 
1770. 

Long and tedious are the voyages of these infant days of 
navigation. Forty-six days are spent by the San Antonio in 
making 4^^ of latitude. On the thirtj-first of May, however, 
Padre Juuipero with joy beholds from the ship the green hills 
around the bay of Monterey. The anchor is let into the waters, 
the boats are lowered, they shoot away to the shore ; the land 
expedition having arrived eight days before, meet their country- 
men on the rocks at the beach. The first and second of June 
are spent in that hearty social intercourse, which those alone ever 
feel who have thrown their hearts for months on the cold breast 
of the wilderness. Dangers incurred, sufferings endured on rock 
and surge, remembrances of the sacred past, the sensations cf 
dawning joy crowding on past misery like day on the heels of 
night, cluster around the mind and bid the affections increase tha 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 271 

pulsations of life. On the third of June, they celebrate thoir 
landing. It is the Pentecost day. The officers and men of the 
sea and land expeditions assemble under a great oak tree near 
the shore. They erect an altar in its shade, hang bells on its 
branches, and proceed with their services. They chant Veni 
Creato?-, consecrate the water, erect and bless a grand cross, un- 
furl the royal standard, chant the Mass, and sing a Salve to the 
Virgin, whose image occupies the altar. And after the Padre 
Juuipero has delivered a pathetic discourse, a solemn Te Deum 
is sung to the Great Creator. The officers now take formal pos- 
session of the country in the name of their king. These cere- 
monies being completed, they repair to a shady place on the 
beach and dine, as they have worshipped, amid salutes of small 
arms, and the cannon of the vessels. Thus is commenced the 
settlement of Monterey, in Upper California. All this done, 
the Padre President proceeds to found the mission of Monterey, 
in the same manner as he has done that at San Diego. But he 
finds it more difficult to induce the Indians to avail themselves 
of his teachings. The firing of the artillery and muskets at the 
celebration of the first Mass, has so terrified them, that the 
heart of the excellent Padre is not gladdened by a baptism, till 
the twenty-sixth of the following December. 

Meanwhile the ship San Antonio being detained some time 
at Monterey, the Padre President is enabled to explore portions 
of the neighboring country. He finds the fertile soil so abun- 
dant and the natives so numerous, that he writes to the chief 
of the College of San Fernando in Mexico, that a hundred 
more missionaries may be well employed in the Californias. 
This favorable account of the country induces the Viceroy at 
Mexico to order thirty Franciscan monks to proceed to San 
Bias — twenty of whom are destined for Lower and ten for 
Upper California. The latter sail from San Bias in the San 
Antonio, on the seventh of January, 1771, and on the twelfth 
of March, put into San Diego, sorely afflicted with the scurvy. 
They go overland to Monterey. 

The monks destined for Lower California are less fortunate. 



272 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

Their ship, the San Carlos, is allowed by its unworthy com- 
mander to drift ashore, in the Port Mansanillo, a fine harbor 
jying some distance south from San Bias; and the poor friars, 
.,eft to shift for themselves, are compelled to toil over three hun- 
dred leagues of rough, pathless, uninhabited coast along the 
ijcean and gulf, till they find themselves on the coast of Senora 
opposite to Loretto. They cross the gulf to Loretto, thither 
the San Carlos follows them in the month of August, having 
been eight months at sea, between two ports which are now but 
five or six days' sail apart. 

The reinforcement to Upper California enables the presid- 
ing Padre to found a new mission, which he dedicates to San 
Antonio de Padua. This station is built among the green 
hills of Santa Lucia, about eight leagues from the Pacific coast, 
and twenty from Monterey. 

The grounds are broken and the seed sown ; but a 
blighting and untimely frost comes, and the total loss of 
the wheat is threatened. The Indians are disheartened, and 
still more so the Padres, who anticipate with keen forebo- 
dings the loss of their bread. They send the Christian In- 
dians to the woods to gather seeds, roots, fruits, &c., for 
their subsistence, as in former times has been their custom. 
The Padres strengthen their own and the Indians' feith, Dy a 
firm reliance on their patron saint ; and to conciliate his high- 
est favor, they resolve to celebrate his Novena with all their 
converts. At the same time they take the more business-like 
precaution of irrigating the blighted field; and in a few 
days, such is the efficacy of the water, and still more, as they 
believe, their prayers, that the resuscitated grain field is seen 
springing into new life. At the end of the Novena, the whole 
field is covered with beauty and promise, and at harvest 
yields more abundantly than was ever before known. This 
encourages the new converts, and kindles the gratitude of tne 
Padres. Meanwhile new efforts are resolved on in San Diego ; 
and on the tenth of August, Padre Pedro Cambon and Padre 
Angel Somera, with a detachment jf ten soldiers and the re- 



TRAVELS IN THE CALFFORNIAS 273 

quisite number of mules and drivers, set out and travel north- 
wardly. When they arrive at the river Temblores, about forty 
leagues from San Diego, and while they are seeking a desira- 
ble site for their mission, the Indians, armed and led on by 
two commanders, rush from their lurking-places with dread- 
ful yells and the most unequivocal demonstrations of hostility. 
The Padres dread bloodshed. They exalt the image of" Our 
Lady;" the subdued savages prostrate themselves m cro-v-lg 
around the standard ; allow them without interruption to pro* 
ceed with the solemn ceremonies of f«)undmg the mission of 
San Gabriel ; and the swelling notes of the first Mass chanted 
in these solitudes, mount to the ear of the Omnipotent in the 
year 1771, from a little group consisting of the Padres, the 
rude soldiers, the careless muleteers and wandering Indians, 
gathered under the spreading boughs of a tree on the conse- 
crated ground, just as the sun is rising to bring the anniversary 
of the nativity of the Virgin. 

The Padres have now divided their forces as much as 
practicable. No more missions can be founded till help ar- 
rives from Mexico ; and oppressed with care, labor, hunger, 
and anxiety, lest the Indians should relapse into their hea- 
thenish belief and practices, they remain with little to en- 
courage their minds, or strengthen their fainting hearts, until 
the autumn of 1772, when Padre Junipero founds the mission 
San Luis Obispo de Tolozo, and in November embarks at San 
Diego for Mexico. There he struggles with the Viceroy 
Bucareli to prevent him, if possible, from abandoning the port 
of San Bias as a naval station ; and so successfully presents 
the cause of the infant missions to him that he is induced to 
finish a frigate which has been begun at San Bias, for the 
purpose of exploring the coast of Upper California, and 
also to freight a packet boat with provisions for Monterey. 
But again these navigators, on whose skill so much depends for 
the comfort and sustaining of the missions, fail through igno- 
rance, negligence, or misfortune, to reach the port of destina- 
tion; an«5 \he packet enters the bay of Loretto without her 



274 8CENES IN THE PACIFIC 

rudder, and otherwise disabled fn m proceeding on her voyage 
So that the good Padres, with their ignorant, helpless de- 
pendents, are doomed to another tedious famine. For eight 
months they subsist almost exclusively on a scanty supply of 
milk. But in the meantime, food and aid and kind hearts arc 
on their way to them from Mexico. The indefatigable Padre 
Junipero toils faithfully till September, 1773, when, with 
missionaries, officers, soldiers, and a large supply of necessa- 
ries, consisting of maize, beans, flour and clothing, to the 
value of $12,000, he joyfully embarks for California. He 
has also procured the despatch of an expedition, under the 
command of Captain Juan Bautista Anza, through the interior 
by the rivers Gila and Colorado, in order that the disasters 
by sea which have so often overwhelmed the missions with 
disappointment, famine and despair, may in future be averted 
The good Padre himself proceeds to San Bias, and freighting 
the packet San Antonio and the new frigate Santiago with 
his supplies, embarks on his return in January of 1774, and 
after forty-nine days' sail puts into San Diego. 

Monterey is the place of destmation; and Padre Juni- 
pero proceeds thither over land, that he may visit the various 
missions on his route. Anza's land expedition is there : and 
the Padre rejoices to learn that there is no obstacle to a land 
communication between Mexico and Monterey. But the 
pleasure arising from this discovery is greatly lessened by the 
announcement that there are no provisions among the people, 
and that famine is rapidly wasting the energies and hopes of 
his new establishments. The good man's heart is wrung by 
this tale of suffering, and he hastens on with a few supplies ; 
but finds at his arrival on the eleventh of May, that the 
frigate he left in San Diego is two days in advance of him, 
and that the hungry are already fed. Joy and welcome every- 
where meet the Padre President ; the Friars hail him as a 
loved brother and strong companion ; the poor Indians as a 
father and protector. Thus strengthened and encouraged, the 



TRAVEL.* IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 27b 

laborers of the cross toil on. Meantime the frigate, which is 
under orders from the Viceroy to explore the northwest coast, 
departs from Monterey on the eleventh of June, proceeds a3 
far as Lat. 55^ N.. and finds an inlet which they name Santa 
Margarita, and returns. In March of the next year, she makes 
another expedition, accompanied by a schooner under the 
command of Bodega, afterwards the friend of Vancouver. 
As these vessels, however, are separated in a gale on the 
thirtieth of July, the frigate proceeds to Lat. 49^ N., 
and puts back in search of the lost schooner ; arriving 
at Monterey on the twentieth of August, she finds her 
consort riding at anchor in the bay. The failure of these ex- 
peditions seems rather to stimulate than cool the enterprise of 
the Viceroy. He orders a new frigate to be built at San Bias, 
and sends a naval oflficer to Peru to purchase a vessel to ac 
company her over these vexed waters. These vessels sail 
from San Bias on the twelfth of February, 1779, under com- 
mand of Don Ignatio Artiago. Two missionaries from the 
Convent of San Fernando accompany the expedition. The 
object of the yoyage is to discover a water passage from the 
Pacific to the Atlantic. They reach Lat. 55° N. on the third 
of June, and discover a strait which they call Bucareli. Here 
they look in vain for a passage eastward ; and about the first 
of July proceed still farther northward. On the first of Au- 
gust, in about Lat. 60° N., they discover a large and safe 
harbor, with abundance of wood, water, and fish. This they 
name Santiago ; and after spending several days in searching 
an inconsiderable creek for the passage, the prudent com- 
mander, finding his crew infected with the scurvy to an alarm- 
ing degree, and dreading the rigor of the advancing season, 
resolves to return. Accordingly he sails southward, and on 
th. fifteenth of September, 1779, safely moors his little fleet in 
the harbor oi San Fernando. The return of this expedition 
is hailed as a momentous event in the progress of the conquest. 
While the civil arm is thus extending itself over the unex 
plored wilderness, the spiritual warriors lose none of their 



276 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

ardor The accession of laborers and the abundant supplies 
brought by the Padre President enable the missionaries to 
prosecute their holy enterprise with renewed energy. New 
missioHL ^re founded, the old ones zealously advanced. Con- 
verts are added to the flock, and everything encourages 
the hearts of the lonely self-sacrificing Padres. In the 
fall of the year, 1775, however, a most diabolical plot is laid 
and partly executed by the unconverted Indians aided by two 
apostates, for attacking San Diego, and murdering the mis- 
sionaries and other white persons. The onset is made in the 
dead of night, by two strong bands of armed savages; and 
the good Padres, all unprepared for defence as they are, with 
their feeble force of a few soldiers and mechanics, have but 
a small chance of escape. One of them, the Padre Luis, is 
cruelly murdered and chopped in pieces, and Padre Vincente 
is dangerously wounded. A whole night is spent in this pre- 
carious defence, and at sunrise the Indians retire, carrying 
away their dead and wounded. All the whites are wounded, 
some of their buildings are burned, and their peaceful in- 
tercourse with the Indians is sadly interrupted. 

The Padre President at Monterey hears of this calamity, and 
resolves to proceed at once to San Diego to repair, as he best 
may, the misfortunes of his brethren. He is prevented from 
reaching them until June of the following year ; when with 
the aid of the crew of the Princesa, he re-builds the burned 
tenements, and by his influence renews the amicable inter- 
course of the mission with the natives. On his return, he 
founds the mission of San Juan Capistrano. Here he is at- 
tacked by hostile Indians. But he escapes all dangers, en- 
dures all trials, and on reaching Monterey, prepares to establish 
the mission of San Francisco, on the bay of that name. Great 
preparations are made for this event. Supplies are sent to 
the harbor of San Francisco in one of the packet boats, and 
the good Padre with a small detachment of soldiers, and a 
number of families with cattle and mules for the new mission, 
leaves Monterey on the seventeenth of June, 1776. Ten davs 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFOKNIAS. 277 

nij.«s, and they arrive near the proposed site of their future 
h<'>*Jie oc. the banks of a beautiful lake near one of the arms 
o^the bay, select a situation for the Presidio, and cut the tim- 
ber to erect it. The natives, meanwhile, throng around to 
witness their labors and make demonstrations of friendship. 
The vessel arrives on the eighteenth of August. The work 
progresses, and on the seventeenth of September, they take 
solemn possession of the new garrison. The holy cross is 
planted above the peaceful waters of the bay, and the silent 
hills re-echo the chanting of the Mass, the sublime Te Deum 
and the roar of artillery and musketry, announcing to the 
untamed tenants of the wilderness, the dominion at once of 
the cross and the sword. The same ceremonies attend the tak- 
ing possession of the mission on the ninth of the following 
November. These objects accomphshed, the vessel returns 
to San Bias. 

The faithful Padre Junipero continues his labors without 
ceasing, founding in addition to the missions already named, 
those of Santa Clara, Santa Barbara, and San Buenaventura. 
But his efforts draw to a close. He has thrown the gushing 
energies of a warm and kind heart upon the arid wilderness. 
Solitude, famine, heat and cold, thirst and hunger, have been 
welcome as the sole conditions under which he could perform 
his errand of mercy and love to the red man. And now that 
the holy cross which his hands have planted, gleams heaven- 
ward from the dark bosom of these wastes, and devotion 
blends its gentle tones with the harsher poeans of the winds 
and waves, and the voices of human industry, the good Padre, 
worn out with the fatigues and anxieties of his arduous post, 
must prepare to rest from his labors. The hand of age is 
upon him ; his head whitens ; his frame bends and trembles ; 
his steps falter , he leans upon his younger and more vigor- 
ous brethren for support ; and at last his grateful and beloved 
spiritual children, the sons of the forest, see him no more He 
retires to die. His heart clings to those who have so long 
hved under the protection of hi5 fostering hand, and the las* 



V78 SCENES IN THE P A CM F I C . 

beiiting of life mingles with a prayer for blessings on his in 
fant missions. The bereaved Friars watch his last breath and 
close his eyes on the day of San Augustine, in the year 1782. 
His life has been nearly seventy-one years long ; lifty-three 
of which have been spent in holy orders, thirty-live in the 
stern and trying duties of a missionary in the New World. 
Thus closed the life and earthly labors of Padre Junipero 

NAMES OF MISSIONS, AND DATES OF TKEIR FOUNDATION 



Date of Foundation. 




Missions. 


1769j 


•■ 


- 


- 


- San Diego, [de Monterey. 


1770, 


. 


- 


. 


- San Carmelo, or San Caries 


1771, 




. 


. 


- ^ San Gabriel. 


u 


. 




. 


- San Antonio de Padua. 


1772, 


- 


- 


- 


- San Luis Obispo. 


1776, 


- 


- 


- 


- San Juan Capistrano. 


1777, 


- 


- 


. 


- Santa Clara. 


1779, 


. 


. 


. 


- San Francisco 


1782, 


. 


. 


. 


- Santa Buenaventura. 


1786, 


_ 


. 


- 


- Santa Barbara. 


1787, 


. 


. 


- 


- La Purissima Concepcion. 


1791, 


. 


. 


. 


- NaSadelaSoledad. 


1794, 


« 


. 


. 


- Santa Cruz. 


1797, 


. 


- 


. 


- San Miguel. 


u 


. 


. 


- 


- San Jose. 


it 


. 


. 


. 


- San Juan Bantista. 


u 


. 


. 


. 


- San Fernando. 


1798, 


- 


. 


. 


- San Luis Rey de Francia 


1817, 


.. 


- 


- 


- San Rafael. 


1822, 


- 


- 


- 


- San Francisv-'o Solano, 



These missions at length became very rich, and from 1793 
to 1820 sold an immense quantity of hides and tallow to Ame- 
rican and British ships which visited the coast. An anec- 
dote related to me by an intelligent man in California is m 
point. Previous to 1793 the Padres killed the surplu*- bulls 



TRAVELS IN THE CA.LIFORNIAS. 279 

of their herds, saving the hides, and leaving the taLow to rot 
on the plains ; because it was an article difficult to preserve 
until foreign ships should begin to visit them and furnish a 
market ; and thus untold quantities of it were lost. One of 
the Padres, however, who had a little more chemistry and 
other worldly wisdom than his brethren, caused his Indians to 
dig a very large and deep vat in the earth on a shaded spot, 
and line it well with brick and a durable cement, in which 
from year to year, as his bulls were killed, he stored his tal- 
low ; and thus continued to do, till the trading ships called for 
the deposit ; when it was found that his vat contained three 
large cargoes of excellent tallow. 

The cattl-e in the missions at this period were very numerous. 
Most of them had from eighty to one hundred thousand each. 
They also had bands of horses and other kinds of stock pro- 
portionably large. The Padres of a single mission not unfre- 
quently purchased an entire cargo of goods from American 
merchants — and such were the known resources of their es- 
tablishments, and their uniform punctuality and honesty, that 
these cargoes were frequently delivered to the priests with 
no other security than their verbal promise to pay. Indeed, 
these old Franciscan Friars, who entered this wilderness clad 
in their grey habits with sandals on their feet and the cross in 
theii* hands, were men for whose equals in mental power, in 
physical courage and moral intrepidity, we shall seek in vain 
in these days of vapid benevolence, of organizations whick 
spend their money in sustaining a system of denunciation, 
instead of applying it with day-laboring energy for the extir- 
pation of the evils against which they inveigh. These men had 
not made addresses before the assemblies of anniversary occa- 
sions, but had wielded the pruning hook of holy truth and of 
the principles of the social state, and of the refining and ex- 
alting virtues, upon the unpruned territories of degraded 
human nature. They had not bewailed the woes of men at 
the pomt of a goose-quill, and from the dark walls of a com- 
plaining heait shut up in an indolent body, sent forth a sack 



280 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC- 

of theories for alleviation, which the world must adopt befo 
a freezing hand can be warmed or a hungry mouth filled 
But they had bared their hearts to the arrow of the savage 
and gone out to the theatre of personal labor, driving before 
them domestic animals bearing seed-grain, the plough, the 
^ axe, the spinning-wheel and the loom, gathering the stupid 
wandering Indians into communities, rearing the edifices of 
Christianity and the family condition on the shore of that 
great ocean girded with heathenism and wretchedness, opening 
its unploughed plains and training them to yield their increase tc 
nourish the body — and from the garner of Heaven drawing man- 
na for the soul. They did not teach religion only and at all times, 
and rely on that as a nutriment for the rearing and comfort of 
the whole man. On the contrary, they recognized in the human 
being a nature allied to matter as well as spirit ; with faculties 
which connect him as a material existence with his material 
abode, and powers of mind which were made to teach him 
his relations to the material world, as well as those which 
raise the hand of religious faith to the skies, to seize the 
hope of the after world. Like knowing and reasoning, as 
well as pious men, they cared for the bodies as well as the 
souls of those whom they went to convert to Christianity. 
And in bringing the Californian savages into that industry 
4irhich must always accompany true virtue and piety, tht 
labor of the converts produced in that climate, where so littlt 
is required to sustain them during unproductive seasons, a vast 
amount of surplus wealth. This the Padres alone were capa- 
ble of throwing into the market ; and consequently, at the 
period just spoken of, the business of the Californias received 
its origin, its character and impulses from them. Society from 
them took its form and its tone ; and the Government of the 
country was as mild, wise and just, as these unpretending 
men who directed its action. The golden age was this of the 
Californias. The Indians in the whole of Lower, and that 
part of Upper California which lies between the first range 
of mountains and he sea, and extending from San Diego t.: 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS, 281 

the riorth till it embraces the shores of the Bay of San I'Van- 
cisco, were gathered into missions ; not less than seventy-five 
thousand of them were living, laboring and worshippins: 
God with the Padres on those immense plantations ! Their 
granaries were filled with grain, their orchards were laden with 
oranges, plums, pears, citrons, lemons, apples and figs. Their 
vineyards covered the hill-sides, and their flocks and herds the 
plains ! If a stranger arrives in the Californias, and approaches 
a mission, the Indians and Padres go out to meet him ! He re- 
ceives the welcome of sincere hearts. The wine from the 
vineyards — the bread and beef and frixoles are placed before 
him, and the Padre's best bed given him. He is pressed to re- 
main, not a cold hour of freezing ceremony and suspicion, but 
months — during life if he will — in their hospitable abode. But 
if he will travel on, he is furnished with horses and attendants to 
the next mission, where he is again welcomed and treated in a 
similar manner, and thus he journeys through the entire country 
.f he desires, and leaves it with regret. But the history of this 
delightful realm shows a change in the features of this scene. 

In 1821, New Spain had achieved an independent national 
existence, and adopted a partially republican form of govern- 
ment. The Californias, removed by their geographical situa- 
tion, as well as the feelings of their people, from the wars and 
victories of that eventful crisis, had retained their loyalty to 
old Spain until as late as the year 1825, when General 
Echuandra arrived in Monterey with full powers to receive 
the submission of California to the authorities of the Mexi- 
can Republic. 

The first act of this functionary was to require of the Pa- 
dres to take the oath of allegiance to the new Government. 
This they coulo not do according to the rules of their Order, 
without the cons(*nt of their Prefecto — the Padre President. 
This priest declared himself unwilling to give his consent 
until his King had abandoned the sovereignty of the Califor- 
nias; whereupon General Echuandra arrested him, conveyed 
birn to Monterey, and banished him to Manilla. 



2S2 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

Immediately after the Padre Prefecto's banislmien., Echa* 
andra made a tour of the missions, assembled the Indians in 
each, and by an interpreter, explained to the«i that the Mexi* 
can Government had directed him to declare the Indian con- 
verts of the Californias to be free citizens of the Mexican 
Republic — released thereafter from what he termed slavery to 
the Padi-es, and subject only to the laws of the nation and his 
commands as its official agent ; aud that all those who bore 
good characters, and had learned agriculture, or any of the 
useful arts by which they could gain a livelihood for them- 
selves and families, he was instructed to say were entitled to 
have lands assigned them on the mission premises, and a pro- 
portionate quantity of the animals, as cattle, horses, &c., 
and be gathered into parishes with Padres to superintend them 
who should be subject to the missions ; that those of them, 
who had not learned agriculture, or other useful art, or had 
not sustained reputable characters, must remain at the 
missions and earn by their increasing knowledge and virtu« 
a title to freedom and the rights of property. The Padres 
were required to aid in carrying out these mandates of the 
Republic, and at the same time to continue their work of 
converting and training the Indians for the civil and social 
state contemplated by the Government. Meantime the General 
informed the Padres that their yearly stipend of four hundred 
dollars would be indefinitely withheld ; ordered them to have 
bells rung whenever he approacheci the missions ; and to in- 
struct the converts that they, as well as themselves, were 
subject to his authority. 

This course of the Mexican Government appears on its 
face to be one of those high moral acts which a single age 
seldom sees twice performed. The Creator has sent down to 
us, through the train of ages, the evidence that in the begin- 
ning He created as great a variety of the human genus as He 
did of any other race of living beings. From the New Hol- 
lander, who is connected to our kind by a physical form but 
little superior to that of the ape, and by tbfc i»stinct and ca- 



TRAVELS IN THE CAL^F0RN[.l8. 283 

pacity to build a fire to warm his frame when beset with cold— 
to the Negro — the Hottentot — the Indian — the Asiatic and 
the European species, there is a gradual development of beauty 
and capacity of body and mind, which forces us to think that 
the same harmonious variety was introduced into the creation 
of the human family, which is so manifest in other orders of 
the animal world. Among celestial intelligences, toe, there 
are greater and lesser stars of existence ; and the Great Ma- 
ker burns above them all. Such variety is a palpable fact on 
earth. The highest obedience to God is the recognition of 
Him in His own character, and of creation as it fell from His 
hands ; and having done these things dutifully, to place our- 
selves in the ordained relation to the external world, to other 
men, to ourselves and to Him. One of the noblest acts in 
this line of obedience is to say to those who are for wise 
purposes made inferior to us, be free — be men. And if we 
had no other sources of information from which to learn the 
real nature and intent of the course of the Mexican Govern- 
ment towards these Mission Indians, we should place it among 
the noblest deeds of men. But unfortunately it deserves 
equal distinction of an opposite character. Let succeeding 
events be heard in evidence. 

These declarations of Echuandra and the banishment of 
their Prefecto, diminished the Padres' hopes of perfecting 
what they had so gloriously begun — the rearing the Indian 
population by degrees to the labors, the thoughts, the religion 
and happiness of civilisation. They w^ell understood what all 
men will eventually come to know, that an ignorant, stupid 
species of the human kind, never was and never can be free 
before their stupidity and ignorance are removed ; that the 
introduction of such people as civil agents among a body 
of citizens of the higher species, who sustain the re- 
spoi/oibilities of advanced society, is attended with no good 
to a ay party ; but on the contrary, attaches to the acts and 
thoughts of the higher, advancing and thinking s-pecies, the 
antagonism of the unthinking, the indolent and degrading in- 



2S4 SCENES N THE PACIFIC. 

ferior, whose influence can only be to weaken the moral 
power of their superiors, and draw them off with all the force 
of physical indulgence to the confines of barbarism. They 
perceived, indeed, that freedom to their converts, from their 
paternal restraints, was only an illusive synonyme of annihi- 
lation ; that they would, when removed from the action of a 
superior intelligence, return to the savage state, or use their 
liberty in following their strongest instincts, which, after all 
their labors, were towards vices alike ruinous to bodily and 
moral health. The Padres, for all these causes, became dis- 
couraged, and made less effort for the temporal enlargement 
of their missions. The departure of their best neophytes to 
the lands assigned them by the Government, left them only 
the refractory and the ignorant to work the lands, guard ne 
herds and flocks, and manufacture the cloth, leather and wine , 
and these being encouraged by Echuandra, neglected theii 
labor, and insulted the Padres when punished for so doing. 
They even went in bodies to Echuandra and complained that 
the Padres insisted that they, the free citizens of the Mexican 
Republic, ought to cultivate the mission farms ; and the Gen- 
eral encouraged them in their folly. They informed him that 
the Padres withheld their rations, unless they cultivated the 
land to raise a new supply ; and Echuandra assured them they 
had reason for dissatisfaction. And on one occasion, when a 
Padre was insisting on obedience to these wholesome regula- 
tions by which they had been elevated from the most abject 
barbarism to the comforts of a partially civilized state, the 
deluded creatures threw him violently upon the ground, and 
otherwise abused him. This, Echuandra assured them, was 
an act worthy of a citizen of the Mexican Republic. 

While the Padres were thus seeing the mission plantations 
becoming covered with weeds, the buildings going to ruin, 
their influence over the converts lessening, and these, their 
spiritual children, given to drunkenness, gambling, theft, and 
lasciviousness, a party of young Friars from the Convent of 
San Fernando, in Mexico, were distributed among some of 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 285 

the missions, and the Padres resident commanded to in- 
struct them in the Indian languages and other matters 
which would prepare them to supplant their teachers. The in- 
fluence and usefulness of these excellent men was, by these 
measures, rapidly undermined, till the year 1827, when two 
of them, Padres Repol and Altemira^ of the mission Santa 
Barbara, fearing for their personal safety, secretly left the 
country in an American vessel bound to Boston, and sailed 
fiom that city to Spain. In the year 1835, others left with 
passports from Government, and went through Mexico to 
Spain ; and others, worn out with labor and sorrow, died in 
the country and were buried under the churches of their 
missions. 

In the same year a body of Franciscan monks from the Col- 
lege at Zacatecas, were sent into the Californias by the Gov- 
ernment. To these were assigned the rich missions lying 
north of San Antonio. The old Padres retained the poorer ones 
lying to the South. Thither these good old priests retired, 
banished from the missions they had reared, and deprived of 
the means of comfort which they had procured ; and now, in 
those inhospitable places, they continue to perform their spirit- 
ual functions, deprived in their old age not only of the com- 
forts, but of the very necessaries of life. Aged men, tottering 
grey-headed men ; men who had in youth left the abodes of 
civilized life ; who had forsaken father, mother, kindred, and 
for forty years toiled in the Californian wilderness; plough- 
ed the soil, built churches and dwellings ; brought into life, 
justice and hope and music and prayer to the God of the Uni- 
verse ; under whose hands the trees of virtue and civilisa- 
tion flourished, adorning the hitherto barren wastes of mat- 
ter and soul ; such were the men condemned by a selfish 
anarchy to wretchedness and want. But a policy so blind 
brings evil as its legitimate result. 

In 1835, the whole power of the priests over the temporal 
affairs of these establishments, in both the Californias, was 
transferred to officers of government called Admmistradores. 



286 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

One of these was located at each mission. Their duties osten- 
sibly were to farm them for the benefit of the converts, in order 
to allow the Padres their whole time for their spiritual labors. 
But the actual object of this measure was to bring the income 
and property of the missions within the grasp of the hungry 
leaches of the Californian Government. For, immediately after 
the appointment of these officers their wants became pressing, 
and they began to send orders for hides, &c., to the Adminis- 
tradores, which were uniformly honored and passed to the credit 
of the missions. 

Thirty thousand hides and as many arohas of tallow, had 
been the annual export of this country ; but now, a slaughter 
of the animals commenced, which surpassed the annual in- 
crease; and the Padres encouraged the defrauded Indians at 
the yearly branding, to let many go unmarked and run wild, 
in anticipation of the approaching period, when tyranny would 
drive them from their homes to the wilderness. The effects 
of these measures were to decrease the number of cattle and 
the amount of the products of the missions, paralyze the in- 
dustry, deteriorate the morals of the whole community, and 
introduce in the place of the mild and paternal government of 
the Padres, the oppressive anarchy of a weak and cruel mili- 
tary despotism ; the more despicable in itself, as it proceeded 
from a source where liberty and equality was the theory, and 
slavery and robbery the practice of the governing class. 

In the year 1836, a quarrel arose between the Mexican Go- 
vernor at Monterey, and a custom-house officer by the name of 
Juan Baptiste Alvarado, in regard to the division of certain bribes 
which had been paid to the officers by the supercargo of a for- 
eign ship, as a remuneration for entering upon the government 
books only half of the cargo, and admitting the remainder for a 
certain sum in specie and goods, paid to themselves; and the first 
result of the difficulty was a revolutionary movement under 
Alvarado and Graham, as I have heretofore related. But it is 
necessary here to add that, after the surrender of the Mexican 
authorities, the foreigners and Californian Spaniards assembled 



TRAVELS IN T/IE CAHFORNIAS. 287 

at Monterey and passed these resolutions as the basis of a pro- 
visional government. 

1st. Upper Cahfornia is declared to be independent of Mex- 
ico during the non-re-establishment of the Federal systeoi, 
which was adopted in 1824. 

2d. The said California shall be erected into a free and 
governing state, establishing a congress which shall dictate all 
the particular laws of the country, and elect the other supreme 
powers necessary, declaring the " Actual Most Excellent De- 
putation Constituent." 

3d. The Religion shall be the Roman Catholic Apostolic, 
without admitting the exercise of any other ; but the govern- 
ment will not molest any persons for their particular religious 
opinions. 

4th. A Constitution shall regulate all the branches of the 
Administration " provisionally," in conformity as much as 
possible with the expressed declaration. 

5th. Until what is contained in the foregoing articles be 
put in execution, Seiior Don Guadalupe Vallejo shall be 
called to act as Commandante General. 

6th. The President of the " Most Excellent Deputation" 
shall pass the necessary communications to the municipalities 
of the Territory. 

These proceedings were followed by the banishment of the 
Mexican Governor, officers and soldiers from the country; 
the proclamation of Juan Baptiste Alvarado, Civil Governor, 
and his uncle, Seiior Don Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, Military 
Governor, or Commandante of the " Republic of Upper Cali- 
fornia." 

Meantime this new Government had placed the seal of final 
ruin upon the missions. The official corps which had formerly 
drawn salaries from the Central Government at Mexico 
was now dependent upon the resources of the country. The 
Revolutionists and Lawgivers owned large plantations, many 
of which grazed ten or fifteen thousand head of cattle, besides 
horses, mules, sheep, &c. But these were private property, 



SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

not to be taxed for public purposes by these self-denying^ 
patriots. The missions, therefore, were resorted to for the 
means of supporting the Californian Government during the 
years 1836, 1837, and 1838 ; and sad was the havoc made 
upon them by those base descendants of the Chivalry of Spain. 
As soon as information of this Revolution in Upper Cali- 
fornia reached Mexico, the Central Government, with Busta- 
mente at its head, and a kennel of worthless cowards to bark, 
but never to bite at approaching danger, raised, as is the 
custom of that hybrid nation of Indian and Spanish Don Quix- 
ote-Sancho-Panza-Rosinante-Windraill-Furiosos, on such 
occasions, an army of fulminating proclamations to the citi- 
zens of La Republica Mexicana, and the remainder of the 
universe, to arm themselves and proceed in terrible array, 
dealing death elbow-deep in annihilation, against these auda- 
cious and unnatural sons of the great, brave, free, glorious, 
and never-to-be-insulted or conquered nation of Mexico. But 
these Californians were true, at least, to the weakness and fol- 
lies of their Spanish blood. Nowhere on the vast plains 
and mountains of one-half of this continent is there anything 
Spanish, whether negro, Indian, mulatto, or mestizo, in which 
may be found anything stable and bloodless. The charactei 
of these people may be summed up in these few words : vola 
tility, ignorance, stupidity and pride, coupled with the basest 
and most cowardly cruelty. Their very language is a furious 
hyperbole, and their entire nature as a people, is the superlative 
degree of the adjective frothy, without a substantive of any 
sort to qualify. The lofty chivalry of Spain was buried in the 
tombs of the American discoverers and conquerors. Its corslet 
and spear have fallen into the hands of their Indio-Spanish 
descendants ; and a more worthless rabble of bastards never 
assumed the name of nation. 

See these Californians. No sooner had they declared their 
independence and rid themselves of the officers from 
Mexico, than they divided into two parties ; the one in the 
North under Alvarado of Monterey asserting complete inde- 




Bustamente. — P. 288: 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIAS. 289 

pendence of Mexico ; and the one in the South under Don 
Carlos Antonio Carrillo, seeking to unite the country a^ain to 
the parent State. And a blight of idiocy must have fallen on 
that mind which cannot perceive in the events that ensued, 
the terrific tread of oppressed human nature, when, clad in 
the armor of its own avenging power, it goes forth to the 
conquest of its rights. The Ides of March ! How ominous ! 
Caesar quailed in March ! And how much more ought all 
the enemies of the great Alvarado's supremacy to have shaken 
from heel to crown, when, on the fifth of that dreadful month 
of March, he announced to his troops that Don Pedro, the 
Russian Grovernor at Bodega, had received letters from St. 
Petersburg, containing news that France and England had 
resolved to place Iturbide II., son of the Emperor Iturbide I., 
upon the throne of Mexico ! ! The reader may almost see 
His Excellency's wrath kindling at this proposed encroach- 
ment on the liberties of nations. " What, France and Eng- 
land pretend to foist a monarch upon the people of Mexico, 
and even upon His Excellency of California !" — and that too 
while he was Governor 1 Such impudence, if it were not 
" ridiculously impotent as against Mexico, would be found so 
in regard to California ! !" And to this eflfort at patriotism 
and self-complacency, see his heroic Californians emitting 
some fumes of bravery, accompanied with a series of consola- 
tory threats, stamping their feet on the Lord's footstool, and 
strongly grasping their swords, looking things unutterable 
enough to put a notable end to the hopes of Iturbide 11. 
During this daring demonstration for freedom, Alvarado is 
universally believed to have stood firmly at his post, and un- 
shrinkingly done his duty. The Don in the South also is 
reported not to have lost a meal of beans on account of this 
startling intelligence. Courage in California, as elsewhere, 
is a fine tonic for weak nerves. The event too which sue 
ceeded this in the history of the Californias found both these 
worthies in the field of glory. So that if some ignorant reader 
should presume to say, at this point of our narration, that the 



290 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

Don was less brave, patriotic, or in any other sense less a 
Californian cavallero, than Alvarado, he is desired to suspend 
the expression of such an unworthy opinion until he shall 
have read the following account of a campaign which, I am 
credibly informed, is considered by the warriors of that coun- 
try the most remarkably glorious on record. 

In the spring of 1838, a courier arrived from Santa Bar- 
bara, bearing a message of mighty import from the illustrious 
Don Carlos Antonio Carrillo to Alvarado the Conqueror. 
Its purport was that the high — mighty — invincible — and 
ever-to-be-dreaded Central Government at Mexico, had bared 
its puissant arm, stretched it out, raised it up, brought it down, 
and at a single blow, made and put together a gentleman 
Don, to wit, Don Carlos Antonio Carrillo, and constituted 
him the Goubernador del Alta California : and with the ex- 
ercise of the like resistless power had ordered the said Alva- 
rado — villain — robber — slave — to surrender, lay down, and 
for ever after eschew the sceptre of Goubernador del Alta 
California ; unto which message His Excellency, in the true 
CastiUan spirit, and with as much good sense as any one had 
a right to expect of him, Alvarado the Conqueror, replied. 
" On seeing the commission of my successor, and on finding 
it conformable to the usages of the Nation ; and on obtaining 
from him my said successor, a guaranty of safety to my per- 
son and property, and also to the persons and property of 
those who acted with me in the Revolution of 1836, 1 will 
resign the reins of government into the hands of my illustri- 
ous uncle. Otherwise not — never!" This response of the 
lofty Alvarado was soon en route towards the dwelling-place 
of the Don. But the mountainous character of the country 
over which its bearer passed retarded its speed so much that 
the sixth day had w^ell nigh closed before the indignation of 
that exalted man was fired at the story of Alvarado's inso- 
lence. It was fortunate, undoubtedly, that so much time was 
allowed to elapse between the development of the courage 
necessary to enable the Don to send the messenger to Alva- 




Mexican CavaUy,—Vd.ge 290. Mexican Infantry, -^V^e 290. 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIA S. 29^ 

radO) and that effort of sublime forbearance required to re- 
ceive his answer. For it is deemed an established principle 
in the physiology of courage as well as of steamboats, that 
too great a pressure upon the internal surface of an enclosing 
boiler will cause a bursting, disastrous, in a certain sense, to 
those in the vicinity. Soldiers going into battle for the first 
time are said to give the happiest illustrations of this law. 
Be this as it may, however, true it is, that when the courier 
related to him all that the Governor had said, the exalted 
Don exhibited a capacity in the manufacture of fury at short 
notice, which made the floor tremble on which he stood ; and 
it is currently believed that if there had not been a hiatus be- 
tween the demand of the Don and the said refusal of Alva- 
rado, greater danger to the integrity of the Don's physical 
system would have been the unwholesome consequence. As 
it was, however, that immense personage merely took a glass 
of native wine, and summoned his friends to arras for doing 
battle in behalf of La Republica Mexicana. 

Alarm, that protecting genius of all cowards, is declared to 
have a swift wing. At all events, no sooner did the banner 
of the glorious old Don begin to flap on the breezes of wake- 
ful night, than she presented her fluttering form at Monterey, 
and whispered in the ear of Alvarado, of power, of camps, 
of carnage fields, of fame's bold clarion, and the terror of 
his uncle Don. All these things put together made one 
other thing quite clear to Alvarado's vast comprehension ; 
namely, that he must again take to the field — the field in 
which in 1836 he had earned bright laurels, and again fight 
as he then did, for country and freedom, or bow submissively 
before the overpowering valor of his great rival. Nor was 
his genius at fault in this trying exigency. He took his reso- 
lution ; and having done so, what else could the world have 
expected, than that his Excellency and the never-to-be- 
equalled Captain Jose Castro, of villainous memory, should 
call the troops to arms and march for the seat of war. And 
this tb^iv certainly did as nearly as circumstances permitted ; 



293 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

tha-t is to say, Alvarado remained in Monterey, three hiHi" 
dred miles from powder and ball, and Jose Castro marched 
towards Santa Barbara with an army of six men. 

The Don meanwhile was not inactive. He wisely deter- 
mined, as a first step, to take military possession of Santa 
Barbara. Accordingly, from the balcony of his habitation, 
which the foreign residents had fitted up for him at El Pueblc 
de los Angelos, he gave notice to his veteran army assem- 
bled one hundred strong, that he should march immediately 
upon that devoted town and sack it according to the rules of 
war. After a long and tedious forced march on horseback, 
of thirty miles, in a single day, over a grassy and undulating 
country, during which they endured more, if possible, than 
their forefathers did in all their wars with the Moors, they 
arrived on the 20th of March, 1838, upon a hill about two 
miles from that village, encamped, held a council of war, and 
humanely determined to send in a flag, and an expression of 
their unwillingness to shed blood; but the messenger was 
especially instructed to announce, that the town of Santa 
Barbara must be surrendered, or the veteran army would take 
possession of it, if, in so doing, they " trode at every step 
upon the pulseless hearts of the dying inhabitants !" 

The Commandant of the place was not so much frightened 
by this announcement as he ought to have been. But, on 
the contrary, knowing probably that the old Don was a man 
of his word and not of deed, sent back the following reply. 
" Senor Carlos Antonio Carrillo had better not be in haste to 
enter Santa Barbara. Alvarado will soon make his gr^nd 
entrance. K, however, the Don should deem it his duty to 
sack Santa Barbara, it will be mine to yield to the disagree- 
able necessity of preventing such a catastrophe, by firing on 
his ranks and destroying the lives of fellow-countrymen. God 
and Liberty !" This message was more terrific than satisfac- 
tory to the commander of the invading army. But as night 
soon cast its protecting mantle over the fierce brows of the 
immortal one hundred, it was never known to the fuilest 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIA S. 293 

extent how much heroisra they exhibited when ordered into 
quii-rters for the night, with the injunction to hold themselves 
ready for the dreadful work of death at a moment's warning. 
It is however known that a mounted picket guard was sta- 
tioned on the hills, and a strong patrol along the ravines, 
between the camp and the town, and that all. Napoleon-like, 
slept upon the eve of vast events ; that the next morning 
dawned ; the earth turned on its axis, showed the sun and hid 
it again ; and that the army of the Don neither left its en- 
campment, nor took possession of Santa Barbara ; and that 
night came again ; that patrols and pickets were stationed as 
before. But such apparent inaction was not to continue 

On the morning of the 23d, a movement clearly showed that 
irresolution was no part of the Don's nature. And well did 
he exclaim, as he addressed the soldiery on that most memora- 
ble day, — " The pent firss of Californian bravery, who can 
quench them ? What one of us, whether plebeian born or a de- 
scendant of the Spanish Cavaliers, will flee before the servile 
minions of the ignoble Alvarado ? What man with a 
heart quickened by Castilian blood, will not pour out that 
blood in defence of California, and the union of the Mexican 
States ? " To this appeal a response arose and echoed amona; 
the hills, in that hearty and lusty manner so characteristic of 
Spanish Californians, and other animals distinguished for long 
ears. He next commended the courage displayed, and the 
valorous exploits performed in the siege they were prosecut- 
ing. " They had crowned their names with deeds of immor- 
tal renown." And then the officers' swords flamed from their 
scabbards, and the privates stood shoulder to shoulder in the 
most threatening attitudes of the genuine warrior, as the Don 
took breath, and with emphasis remarked, that the army of 
Santa Barbara was approaching ! ! ! It approached ! ! ! All 
saw it ! ! ! Halted ! ! The Don reconnoitred ! ! and horrible to 
tell — the opposing forces numbered one hundred and four 
noses ! ! His own, himself included, one hundred and one only ! ! ! 
A difference of three whole noses, against the Don ! ! ! And 



294 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

who in California knew better than he, the power and effect 
of such superiority ? Who understood more clearly than the 
Don, the execution which that number of noses might do in 
the approaching struggle for " law and order ? " But who, 
among all living and dead heroes, could better rally the 
energies required to meet that horrible crisis, than the Don 1 
None ! His horse even partook of the overpowering mag- 
nitude of the energies that bestrode his back, and bore 
his rider along the line with unwonted speed and fire as the 
order boomed along, for the soldiers to prime anew their pans 
—shoulder their gleaming muskets, and retreat within the 
walls of the Mission Santa Buenaventura ! ! 

Three days after this intrepid retreat of the invading army, 
the redoubtable Captain Jose Castro arrived at Santa Bar- 
bara, with the army of the North, six men strong, well ap- 
pointed with muskets, powder, ball, and Californian patriot- 
ism. His entry was a triumph ; rendered sweet to that warrior's 
heart by the consciousness of being looked upon, while his 
army defiled through the streets, as the saviour of all the mud 
walls, tiles, and babies of that famous town. He repaired to 
quarters in the barracks, dined with becoming dignity, and 
smoked a cigar. After this important business had been dis- 
patched, he summoned before him the authorities, and made 
an exhibit of the luxuriant love of country, which had led 
Alvarado — that superlative adjative of the genus homo, to 
assume the government of Alta California, and assured the 
Commandante, and Alcaldes, that he was authorized and ready 
to receive the surrender of the place, and the fealty of the 
inhabitants to the Revolutionary Government. He added, that 
he hoped it might not be necessary for him to use force in the 
premises. This latter intimation, backed as it was by the 
standing presence of the army of six, was deemed of great 
service to humanity, for no hesitation was manifested by the 
population, amounting to some six hundred souls, about sub- 
mitting to the new order of things so gallantly proposed to 
them by the renowned Captain. 




Captain Castro. — ^Page 294. 



TRAVELS IN THE OALIFORNIAS. 29'5 

The next act of Captain Castro which history will delight 
to record, was that of arresting certain persons at Santa Bar- 
bara supposed to be favorable to the pretensions of the Don ; 
namely, Pedro C. Carrillo, the old Don's son, and a Don An- 
gelo, former Administrador of the Port of Monterey, under 
the late Mexican authorities. The former he put on board 
the bark Kamamula, and sent to sea for safe keeping ; the 
latter was transmitted to Monterey as a tropny of the glorious 
victory achieved by the Grand Army of six at Santa Barbaia. 

Captain Castro tarried only two days at Santa Barbara. 
But during that short space of time he was enabled, by using 
that indefatigable industry and intrepidity for which he was 
so remarkable, to make the two arrests which I have men- 
tioned. And although it has been said by persons presumed 
to be envious of the Captain's right to call himself the Napo- 
leon of California, that these prisoners made no attempt to 
escape, but, on the contrary, surrendered themselves without 
resistance, yet the impartial historian will undoubtedly find, 
on thorough investigation, that he who captured Graham and 
others with so much bravery and renown, could not, in the 
possibility of things, have done this act so tamely as the ene- 
mies of the Captain would maliciously represent. Captain 
Castro was a Napoleon, and by what specious sophistry can 
mankind be made to believe that he did not arrest Senores 
Pedro and Angelo, in a manner worthy of that immortal 
name ? 

On the third day, the Grand Army of the North being in- 
creased by the people of Santa Barbara to one hundred men, 
and supplied with three field-pieces, moved against the Grand 
Army of the South at San Buenaventura. They arrived in 
the night ; and while the darkness shielded them from view, 
they planted the cannon on the heights overlooking the Mis- 
sion, and otherwise prepared themselves for the horrors of 
the coming day. When the morning dawned, the Captain 
had the satisfaction to perceive that his position had been so 
well taken that the garrison of the opposing forces was com- 



296 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC 

pletely at his mercy ; and like all other great men, being 
shocked at the idea of shedding blood so profusely as be must 
do, if he opened upon the Mission the terrors of his cannon, 
he sent in a flag and demanded a surrender. But, strange to 
say, the Don, not having before his eyes the fear of Castro's 
ammunition, refused obedience to this reasonable request, and 
commenced a brisk discharge of musketry from the walls. 
This was answered by those outside with both muskets and 
cannon. The work of death thus commenced w^ent on until 
the shutting in of night on the fourth day ! How grateful were 
the shadows of that night to the besieged ! The lighted taper 
that burned at the altar of the Chapel, sent a straggling ray 
over the area within the walls, and glimmered faintly on the 
arms of the Don's soldiery I But neither that light from the 
altar of hope, nor the beaming bayonets of the besieged vete- 
rans, could inspire their hearts with the firmness required to 
prolong so terrific and destructive a conflict. In the silent 
moment of midnight, therefore, more than half of the Don's 
remaining troops made a desperate sally from the gate, and 
not being opposed for awhile, believed that their intrepidity 
had saved them ! But they were unfortunately mistaken ! 
The Captain's sentinels had noticed their operations, and 
sounded the alarm so bravely that they surrendered them- 
selves at discretion, without waiting for the unnecessary cere- 
mony of being captured, or in anywise endangered. 

After these men had thus daringly given themselves up to 
their foes, their companions, the glorious old Don and all, 
capitulated. And now came the calling of the rolls and the 
burial of the dead ! Sad rites to those who survive such days 
of carnage ! Forty-eight hours of cannonading on the one 
side, and of busy musket-shots on the other ! ! How many 
had ceased to breathe, was the anxious inquiry ! The offi- 
cial returns read thus, " Of the army of the South one man 
killed. Of the army of the North one man wounded. — God 
and Liberty." It is proper to observe in this place, that it 
Was afterwards a question often raised between the soldiers 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIA S. 297 

of the two armies, whether the Don or the Captain surrendered. 
But the most authentic accounts rather favor the opinion tliat 
the Captain had the better of the battle. And I have httle 
doubt that when the Hume of that country shall write its 
annals, and some unborn Ossian shall sing of the mighty tread 
and thundering bucklers of the Castros and Carrillos of that 
streamy land, they will not only commemorate the bloody 
ramparts of San Buenaventura, but speak worthily of the 
Don, as great even in defeat, and of Captain Jose as glo- 
riously triumphant. This idea is remarkably strengthened by 
the fact that as soon as the termination of the campaign was 
announced at Monterey, the puissant Alvarado journeyed to 
San Buenaventura, and thence in company with his Captain 
Castro to El Pueblo de los Angelos, where he took posses- 
sion of the worthy old Don's house, and acted the Governor 
upon the wines and brandies therein contained, with all the 
taste and suavity so well known to be his peculiar excellen- 
ces, and possessed himself of whatever else he listed of the 
Don's personal estate. But — how unjust not to name it — 
after having robbed his uncle, he gave in return a promise to 
pay, which I was told still stands good against him, a sum 
equal to his own estimate of the value he had taken. 

From El Pueblo de los Angelos, Governor Alvarado 
proceeded to San Diego, the southernmost port of Alta Cali- 
fornia ; and received there and elsewhere the submission of 
the inhabitants, till the whole country recognized the said 
Juan Baptiste Alvarado, El Goubernador del Alta California. 
Even the glorious old Don Carlos Antonio Carrillo is said to 
have paid court to the young conqueror, and not altogether 
unwilHngly, after so much blood shed in defence of his dig- 
nity and the high honors of his office, to have laid aside his 
pretensions with much grace and apparent satisfaction ; thus 
demonstrating that noble and rare principle which leads the 
truly great man, — after the exercise of every energy, after 
wading through seas of gore, after baring his bosom to the 
knife of fate, after having met, defied, endured, every hazard, 



298 SCENES IN THE P-CIFIC. 

every hardship, for the aUainment of his just rights,- to prove 
himself not only " par secundis," but " major adversis," by 
seeking repose, and calling on the shades of forgetfulness to 
fall around the memory of heroic exploits, which such a man 
blushes to hear coupled with his name. So httle need has 
true worth of noise and praise. But I should do great injus- 
tice to the worthy Don, if J neglected to state his manner of 
obtaining the commission of Governor of Upper California, 
in support of which he struggled so manfully. 

About two years after the Revolution which raised A/va- 
rado to power, the excellent old Don sent a-n »«count of that 
event to his friend Sa Excellentissimo, El Prcsidente Busta- 
mente, in which among other matters it was stated that, in 
case Mexico would make an appointment of a Californian of 
the Governorship of the country (suggesting at the same timt* 
that he the worthy Don was at the service of the State,) — ^he, 
the Don, and his amigos would reconquer the country, and 
return it to the allegiance of Mexico. The Don's brother, a 
man of great patriotism — id est, Mexican patriotism, or the 
most devoted disposition to take care of himseif, — bore this 
dispatch. In due time he returned with a commission — em- 
powering his brother Don to assume the Government o^ Alta 
California. The only irregularity in the instrument which 
arrested attention was the absence of the proper signa- 
tures and the Seal of State. But as the Don was called 
El Goubernador in the body of the instrument, that irregu- 
larity was deemed by his friends of trifling importance. But 
it was this that the wily Alvarado seized upon as a pretext 
for not delivering up the helm of Government to the most 
excellent and stately old Don, and allowing himself, and his 
partisans to be shot according to the law, for having rebelled 
against La Republica Mexicana. 

From the year 1838 to the year 1840, the time when the 
author entered California, Alvarado continued to be the Gov- 
ernor of that lovely land. And during that period no events 
occurred worthy of being detailed. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

A New Era in California — War with the United States — Various 
Battles — Heroism of the Americans — Conquest — Discovery of 
Gold — Brilliant Hopes — On the Pacific again — Long Tom 
Finishes his Yarn — Speculations on the Future of California — 
The Prisoners — Poor Graham — Home and my Wife — Reflections. 

Soon after this commenced a new era in the history 
of California. In 1845 a rupture occurred between the 
United States and Mexico. Commodore Sloat of the 
Pacific Squadron, hearing of the commencement of hos- 
tilities on the Rio Grande, immediately seized Monterey, 
hoisted the Star Spangled Banner from the Custom House, 
and issued a proclamation of war to the people of the 
Californias. 

It would be foreign from our purpose to give a detailed 
history of this war. The principal incidents are doubtless 
still fresh in the memory of most of our readers. Sufiice 
it to say, that Commodore Stockton, General Kearney, 
Colonel Fremont, Captains Barrows and Thompson, and 
hosts of others, did honor to the flag of their country by 
their gallant achievements. At the Rio San Gabriel, 
and on the plains of Meza, decisive battles were fought 
against overwhelming odds, when victory, as usual, perched 
upon the American banner, with a loss of only one killed 
and thirteen wounded in the two fights. Various other 
engagements occurred, the history of all of which will be 
found in other volumes. 

One incident will illustrate the daring and heroic cha- 
racter of the men engaged in that glorious struggle. At 

(299) 



300 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

Santa Barbara, Lieutenant Talbot, with only nine men 
under his command, was besieged by a large body of the 
enemy and compelled to evacuate the place. He gal- 
lantly forced his way through the besiegers to the moun- 
tains in the vicinity, where, refusing to surrender on any 
terms, he kept the enemy at bay like a tiger in his lair, 
until they set fire to the groves and bushes around him, 
and actually burned him out. He then forced a march 
of five hundred miles through the enemy's country on foot 
to Monterey, where his arrival caused the utmost joy to 
all the Americans, with whom he was a great favorite, 
and who had given him up as lost. 

By the terms of the treaty of peace, California came 
into possession of the United States. Next came the 
discovery of gold and the rush of emigrants to that coun- 
try from all parts of the world. Exaggerated stories of 
the immense mineral wealth of the new El Dorado in- 
flamed the minds of men, and thousands left the slow 
but sure pursuits of home for sudden wealth in a strange 
land. With a few the dream has been realized; and 
although in the aggregate vast sums of gold have been 
obtained, yet a large proportion of the miners have learned 
the to them sad lesson that man, in any country, to be 
truly happy, must earn his living by the sweat of his 
brow. Through much exposure and sufi'ering, wearied 
and heart broken, the poor miner has not unfrequently 
returned from the scene of his brilliant hopes to spend 
his last hours among his early friends — a sadder but a 
wiser man. 

But to return. On the fifth of May, 1840, we made 
our adieus to our acquaintance in Santa Barbara, prepa- 
ratory to falling down the coast. The American visited the 
sick Englishman,found him breathing faintly, and apparently 
very near death. But it was necessary to embark, and leave 
the dying man in the kind care of his nurses, who, I have no 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIA S. 303 

rfoubt, administered to his last want, and made his grave-dress 
wi^h willino; hands. " Dead — starved to death ! Death of a 
Briton irom thirst and starvation, by direction of Juan Eap' 
tista Alvarado, Governor of Upper Cahfornia/'- Is the account 
which truth will ^ve, on earth anii at the judgm^^nt, cf this 
man's death. 

At twelve c'clock, the lusty fellows at the windlass had t«he 
ar^chor on the bow, and our good old ship was bearing down 
the coast under a fxiie northerly breeze. She, or rather he, 
for I believe aii Dons are males, and particularly Don Quix- 
otes, being i-n ballast, ran rapidly, cheeringly, and exultingly 
over the quiet sea. And right glad were we to be under 
weigh. We had been long enough among the jolly birds 
and flowering meadows of California, to rejoice to be again 
at sea. It was sad, howevw, to be borne away from the 
prisons and the moans of our fellow-countrymen. And now 
the deep blue sea — its mermaid song — its anthems of sub- 
limity — its glories and beauties ; really and in truth, what are 
they 1 What man in his senses loves the Ocean ? The mer- 
maids are all porpoises, and their songs all grunts ! The 
deep sounds of the ocean's pealing organ, are the rude groans 
of the winds and the dashing rage of far-rolling surges, rap- 
ping madly at the bows ! The tufts of dancing foam on the 
bitter wastes — desert, heaving, unsympathizing, cold, home- 
less ! Love of Ocean ! ! Poetry of Ocean ! ! It is a pity I 
cannot love it — see in its deep still lower realm, or in its 
lonely tumults, or its surface when the air is still, its heat, 
Ihirst and death, its vast palpitating tomb, the shady hand 
and veiled smile of loveliness ! — that I cannot believe Old 
Ocean has a Iteart, which sends its kindly beatings up and 
down all the shores of earth ! Poetry ! Loveliness ! They 
may be there ; but Ocean's odor and mien are not poetry to 
me ! If I have ever said anything to the contrary, I beg the 
pardon of the sea poets. There is, ho?v^ever, a certain class 
of beings who hold a very different opinion : these are the 
regular old Salts ; men who from boyhood have slept in the 



304 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC 

forecastle, eaten at the windlass, sung at the halyards, danced 
on the yards to the music of the tempest, and hailed the tu- 
mult of the seas as a frolic in which they had a joyful part. 
We respect these poets. Indeed, the Ocean to them is a 
world, the theatre of their being ; and by inhabiting it all 
their days, these singular men become changed from partici- 
pants in the delights of natural life on land, to creatures of 
memory. Memory ! that mental action which sifts the past 
of its bitterest evils, and gives only the blossom and the fruit 
to after-time. These they enjoy in the midnight watch, at the 
dawn, in the storm, the calm, and in visions of sleep ; but for 
ever upon the deep, on the great expanse of the Sea ! Is it 
wonderful, then, that they should love it ? that their affections 
become poetry 1 See them seated at their meal before the 
mast ; their wide pants lap over their sprawled limbs ; the 
red flannel shirt peers out at the wrists, and blazes over their 
broad chests between the ample dimensions of the heavy pea- 
jacket ; and crowning all is the tarpaulin with its streaming 
band, cocked on one side of the head ; and grouped in the 
most approved style of a thoroughly lazy independence, they 
eat their meal. At such times, if the weather be fine, stud- 
ding-sails out, and top-gallants pulling, they speak of the 
ship as a lady, well decked, and of beautiful bearing, gliding 
like a nymph through the gurgling waters. If the breeze be 
strong, and drives her down on her beams, they speak of her 
as bowing to her Lord and Master, while she uses his might 
to bear her on to her own purposes. And if the tempest 
weighs on the sea, and the fierce winds howl down upon her 
dead ahead, and the storm-sail displays over the fore-chains 
its three-sided form, and the ship lays up to the raging ele- 
ments, breasting every swoop of wave and blast, she still is a 
lady, coming forth from her empire of dependent loveliness 
to bow before an irresistible force, only to rise again, and 
present the sceptre of Hope to dismayed man. These Salts 
believe in the poetry of the sea, and of the noble structures in 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFOKIMAS. 305 

which they traverse its pathless immensity. And it may be 
that tliey are right, and I am wrong. 

During the day we passed near to the coast. A fruitful 
strip of land running along the shore ; broken by hills in- 
creasing in height from the water-side towards the interior, 
and bounded by high mountains partially covered with trees, 
but generally burnt and barren, is a true showing of that 
part of California. It was a bright day, with a cool whole- 
some air. Every sail was out and filled, as white as snow, 
the wind on the larboard quarter, the crew lounging, and the 
dolphins chasing, and the gulls screaming, and the spray 
dashing^ at the bows. Home, and the mother of my buried 
boy, if I may speak of myself, the heart's guiding star on 
those wastes of soul and of nature, were drawing near me, 
and in thought were there. Speed on, noble ship, speed on ; 
it is the illusion of happy memories, speed on ! 

On the sixth and seventh the breeze continued favorable. 
The coast was generally in sight, and appeared to be more 
and more barren as we followed it down ! 

On the eighth we sailed along the east side of Guadeloupe. 
This island is about thirty miles in circumference, somewhat 
mountainous, evidently of volcanic origin, surrounded by im- 
mense reefs of black rocks, and destitute of coral formations 
There are two places of access, the one on the southwest, the 
other on the northwest side. It has no harbor for anything else 
than small boats; and though containing considerable quantities 
of arable land, is uninhabited except by sea birds, turtles and 
goals. The latter are the offspring of a few of these animals 
landed upon it by the early Spanish navigators. They have 
been m unmolested possession of the island for the last eighty 
years, and are now so very numerous, that they could be profita- 
bly hunted for their skins and tallow. In former times this island 
used to abound in sea elephants and hair seal ; but the Ame- 
rican hunters and whalers have nearly destroyed them. Ai 
we passed, a right whale spouted near the shore. The cir- 



306 SCENES IN THE P.iClFIC. 

cumstance electrified Tom, and opened his word loom to the 
following yarn. 

" The lubber, that whale ! I would like to be in the bow 
of a staunch boat, with four stout oarsmen, and a bold fellow 
to steer upon him ; I would soon make him spout blood in- 
stead of water ! 

* I was telling you the yarn of my becoming a sailor, when 
the old man coiled up my thoughts among the halyards. 
Now that whale brings them back again, and while he is 
taking his observation, and blowing his nose, I'll finish my yarn. 
I was about nineteen when I blundered against the capstan 
of a whaler, and shipped at New Bedford for a three years' 
cruise. We left port with as good an outfit of harpoons, lines, 
knives, trying-pans, stores, and ship's crew as ever swam the 
brine. I remember we had a studdin-sail breeze a longer 
time on our passage out, than I ever saw before or since, ex- 
cept in the trades. We put out all sail in sight of the New 
Bedford Light, and never took in a rag until we had crossed 
the equator ; and then we struck a dead calm, which conti- 
nued fifteen days. That was the worst siege at oakum and 
spun yarn that Tom ever saw. The sun seemed to pour 
down fire ! It was so warm that the tar in the deck fried 
and bubbled ; and the old long boat shrunk so much that you 
could stick your thumb through between the planks; and the 
decks were so hot that we were obliged to keep them con- 
stantly wet to enable us to stand on them. And as to breath- 
ing, we found that the hardest work of all. The great 
atmosphere seemed to have escaped, and left a perfect void ! 
The ocean was smooth ; not a rough spot upon it as big as a 
cent, except when the cook threw his slush overboard ! It 
lay and rolled like a bending sea of glass ! The vessel, with 
its sails hanging loose on the mast, rose and fell on it like a 
sheet upon the breast of the dying. The sky was awfully 
bare and deserted ! Not a shred of a cloud dotted it for fif- 
teen days ! I never felt lonesome till that time. I had rather 
lay to under storm sail a twelvemonth, than be compelled to 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIA?. 307 

pick oakum and make spun yarn, and think through a calm 
like that. Well, at the end of fifteen days, just as the sun 
set, a little cloud about as large as John's tarpaulin, scud up 
in the nor'west, like an angel of mercy to tell us there was 
wind once more in the heavens ; and about eight o'clock the 
old ocean began to stir ; the air struck our parched bodies, 
and the sails flapped, the vessel moved, and we began to feel 
that we were climbing out of a great hot grave ; I never shall 
forget that calm. 

" Well, we had light breezes till we got off Montevideo, 
when a stiff norther came on, which bore us on under double- 
reefed topsails down to the Cape. Here it came on to blow 
a gale, and we were obliged to run into Magellan, and lay 
to under the lee of the highlands. After lying there two 
days, the wind chopped round northeast, and the old man 
thought we might as well run through the Straits. But the 
gale was renewed, and rushed overland upon us with such 
fury that we could carry for a number of days, only sail 
enough to make the ship lay her course. At last we hove in 
sight of the Pacific, and run afoul one of those villainous head 
winds which you know often set into the west end of the 
Straits. This detained us nine days. At the end of this time, 
it hauled into the northeast, and enabled us to get into the 
open sea. Our course from the Straits was NW. But the 
wind again chopped round dead ahead ; consequently all we 
could do was to try to hold our own. We accordingly beat 
off and on, and lay too twelve days, when we found me must 
up helm and let her run. The gale was awful ; and as we 
advanced south the raggediiess of the sea was continually 
more and more frightful ; the cold became intense ; the water 
froze upon the deck six inches deep ; and the spars, and masts, 
and rigging were covered with ice to such an extent, that the 
ship swayed under the gale, and was likely to swamp ; the 
most like a death-call from the mermaids that Tom ever saw, 
was that gale. The ship lurching her spars into the waves, 
the sailors slipping, the rigging sufi, and the only sail set, 



308 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

covered with ice several inches thick ; the iLasts like vast 
icicles, and the old man and every man expecting eviery mo- 
ment to go down ! After drifting, however, as far as 70^ 
South, the gale abated, the wind changed, we cut away the 
studding-sail, rigged another, and stood away for the north, 
and in a few days got rid of our ice and other troubles. We 
now took our course for New Zealand, and about 300 miles 
east of that island fell in with the whales I thought of, as 

we" . " Bear a hand there, you lubbers." " Aye, aye, sir." 

" Bring out the old trysail, and run your yarns into that." 
" Aye, aye, sir." And thus was Tom's yarn again severed, 
much to his chagrin, and my regret ; for I longed to hear a 
whalesman's account of his bold and dangerous calling. 

On the 10th of May we came in sight of Cape Saa Lucas, 
bearing thirty miles SE. It was about five o'clock, P. M. 
The wind had been dying away since noon, and now barely 
kept the ship moving. The western portion of the sea was 
all light and glorious ; it lay panting, as a wearied giant juft 
returned from the field of conflict. The sun, as he fell stea- 
dily dow^n the great arc of heaven, Avas reflected more and 
more widely and intensely, until his reddest rays shot through 
the clear tops of the billows, and scattered a purple drapery 
'of clouds sprinkled with gold up half the western sky. Gay- 
plumaged land birds gathered on the rigging, and twittered 
and sang to the approaching tw^ilight. The land was eight 
miles from us ; a rough red waste of mountains ! those holy 
desolations where the Indians' God made his descent to bless 
them, their streams, their fruits, and give elasticity to their 
bows. Sturdy scenes ! rocks on rocks, gloom on gloom, sand 
on sand, and dearth feeding dearth, and universal thirst prey- 
ing on animal and herb ! The living things in the sea fro- 
licked around us. The dolphin, the bonitos, the flying fish, 
the porpoise, the right whale, were all employing their 
muscles in their own way among the sleeping waters ; and 
about the sides of the almost motionless vessel swarmed shoals 
of bright and active little fish that seemed to beseech us for 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIA S. 309 

protection and food. As the sun's disc sank below the hori- 
zon, and he withdrew his last rays from the mists of the sea, 
and left the stars to their own twinkling, the mellow clear 
blue of a tropical sky came out over us ; such a sky as hangs 
over Athens and the Egean tides and islands. This was re* 
fleeted back from the waves, on which the stars danced and 
flickered, were extinguished and lighted up again, as swell 
after swell approached the ship, and rocked, as does the 
heart of the mother the child slumbering on her breast. The 
moon was in the first quarter, rounding to the full. And I 
remember never to have felt so strong a sympathy with it as 
on that glorious night. If dreams come when reason sleeps, 
and recollection serves only to feed the affections, and deepen 
the musings of the imagination and associating powers,! cer- 
tainly dreamed with eyes on the moon and stars and the sea 
of that night. The day had gone ; it was night ; the start 
were out, and the sea was dancing to the music of the hi 
distant and ceased tempest, and the moon had come over my 
home, was shining through its windows upon the table at 
which we ate, on the chairs in which we sat, on the wafls 
that had witnessed the high and unmarred pleasures of the 
domestic affections. It was lighting up the altar of my holiest 
hopes, and crowding upon it every gem of joy which had 
shone on the path of the past ! A bird chirped among the 
rigging a note which resembled one that had gladdened even- 
ing w^alks, and often died in the ear as in the opening spring 
sleep was gathering us to rest ; and that chosen star, that con- 
secrated star, that star on which we hung our vows at parting, 
was looking down upon me ! I walked forward among the 
watch, who were loitering about the forecastle in silence. 
'' A fine night this, sir," said one of them, " a fine night, sij. 
This weather reminds one of our New England Indian sum- 
mers, when I used to go out of an evening to a country dance, 
and throw clubs into the trees to get the finest apples for the 
neighboring girls. I recollect that I lost my heart on just 
6uch a night as this, when about twelve years old ! I wen* 



310 scenes" in the pacific, 

over to neighbor Parker's to invite them to a husking, and 
the old gentleman insisted, after I had done my errand, that 
I should stay awhile and help John shell a grist of yellow 
corn ; for he wanted to go to mill at sunrise next morning. 
So down I sat on a little wooden bench at one end of the 
warming-pan handle, which was put through the ears of a 
wash-tub, and shelled away bravely. But all the time I was 
at work, Rachel was pulling my ears, and throwing kernels 
of corn at me, and showing her white teeth and sweet lips 
and eyes around me, until my ears and cheeks burnt, my eyes 
were swimming with love, and my head and heart felt so 
mixed up together that they have never got unravelled since." 
Another one said that these yarns about love were always 
coming up around the windlass, and he hoped they would be 
hauled in, and stowed away soon, for it was quite enough to 
remember one's girl and poor old mother thousands of miles 
away when obliged to ; and that this way of bringing them 
into every watch, and harrowing up one's feelings, was worse 
than being strung up at the yardarm every twelve hours : as 
he said this, he turned away, and wiped his moist cheek on the 
sleeve of his pea-jacket. 

On the 11th, we lay along the Cape. The contour of 
the land was distinctly visible. The mountains rise in arid 
grandeur, rough volcanic cinders, red and desolate. They 
are curiously piled. Huge mountains sprout from the main 
masses, and hang over wooded jungles a thousand feet below. 
Turrets rise on turrets like giant castles of an olden land 
They are an irregular, unstratified, ugly, desolate confusion 
of rocks and dust. On the 12th, we lay six miles SE. of the 
point of the Cape. We had a fine view of both shores of 
the Gulf of California for fifty miles. The scenery was ex- 
tremely interesting. The eastern Cape shore was much like 
the western. The eastern shore of the Gulf, the edge of the 
Mexican main, was sublime. Not so much so on account of 
its massiveness or its altitude, as its resemblance to a conti- 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIA S. 311 

nent of continuous cities, interspersed with groves. The 
general aspect was dreary. 

On the 13th, a light breeze from the south bore us along 
about three knots the hour. The Gulf shores opened wider 
as we advanced. High mountains rose on the main in the NE. 
The coasts of the Gulf are said to be mountainous up to the 
mouth of the Colorado of the West. 

In the evening the mountains on the Mexican side were 
lighted up with immense fires — some of them resembled those 
of volcanoes ; others, the raging flames among the firs and 
pines of the Green Mountains ; others, the deep glow of the 
log heaps of the American fallows. 

On the fourteenth we sailed across the mouth of the Cali- 
fornian Gulf or sea of Cortes, and at night-fall lay in full view 
of the rocky islands around the anchorage of Mazatlan. Cape 
San Lucas had faded away in the northern horizon near sun- 
set, and I confess I regretted to know that I should probably 
see its hills and plains no more ; but a reflection upon the des- 
tiny of the Californias took the place of such sorrow. That 
country must become a constituent member in the great broth- 
erhood of American Nations. As a maritime country it is 
unequalled on the western coast of America ; indeed J. should 
say, it is not approached in this respect by any country border- 
ing on the Pacific seas. 

The harbors of San Quintin in Latitude 30^ 23' N., San 
Diego in Latitude 33° N., and San Francisco in Latitude 37^ 
N., afford secure anchorage for the navies of the civilized 
world, and every desirable facility for erecting wharves, docks 
and arsenals. These indenting a country capable of sustain- 
ing thirty-five millions of people, with the healthiest climate 
on the continent, affording abundance of live oak and other 
materials, without stint, fbr the construction and rigging of 
vessels, and a rich soil bearing on the same acre the fruits of 
the tropical and the temperate zones ; with the greatest possi- 
ble facilities for commercial intercourse with the eastern shores 
of the Russian Empire, China, India, Australia, and the Ha* 
62 



312 SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 

waiian, and other Islands of the Pacific, as well as the whole 
western coast of America, indicate the Californias as the seat 
of the ruling maritime power of that half of the world. 

But there are other reasons for this opinion. A canal can 
easily be cut from the head of steamboat navigation on the 
San Joaquim to the head waters of the Gulf of California. 
This, for warlike and commercial purposes, would be invalua- 
ble. 

Another circumstance, however, is of more value than any 
I have named in forming an estimate of the undeveloped 
greatness of this charming country. It is the intellectual and 
physical might of the people who are to inhabit it. 

In order to indicate what race this is to be, we need only 
refer to the facts, that the navigable waters of the Missouri 
River are within six hundred miles of Puget's Sound : that a 
railroad of that length will send the commerce of the Indies, 
China, and the Californias into the Mississippi valley, and send 
the inhabitants of that valley to the Californias ; and that 
Nature herself has connected that country with the States by 
an excellent natural road. 

This route from the San Joaquim to the plains of the Mis- 
souri is not only feasible but easy. A Mr. Yunt, from Frank- 
lin, in the State of Missouri, and now a resident of Upper 
Cahfornia, travelled from the Great Salt Lake to Monterey 
with loaded mules in thirty days. From this lake to the navi- 
gable waters of the San Joaquim is not more than three hun- 
dred and fifty miles, with plenty of wood, water and grass the 
whole distance. The high range of mountains between the 
San Joaquim and Mary's river can be passed in six hours. 
There is a low gap, pathway leading through it. The route 
from this gap leads up Mary's river to the forks ; thence up 
the east fork, and over the plains, to the Pont Neuf branch of 
the Saptin ; thence through a gap in the mountains to Big 
Bear river at the Soda Springs ; thence up Bear river and 
over the plains to the Rendezvous on the Sheetskadee ; thence 
over the plains to the Sweetwater branch of the north fork o 



TRAVELS IN THE CALIFORNIA S. 313 

Great Platte ; thence down that river to its entrance into the 
Missouri. 

Along this track population must go westward. No one 
acquainted with the indolent, mixed race of California, will 
ever believe that they will populate, much less, for any length 
of time, govern the country. The law of Nature which curses 
the mulatto here with a constitution less robust than that of 
either race from which he sprang, lays a similar penalty upon 
the mingling of the Indian and white races in California and 
Mexico. They must fade away ; while the mixing of different 
branches of the Caucasian family in the States will continue 
to produce a race of men, who will enlarge from period to pe- 
riod the field of their industry and civil domination, until not 
only the Northern States of Mexico, but the Californias also, 
will open their glebe to the pressure of its unconquered arm. 
The old Saxon blood must stride the continent, must command 
all its northern shores, must here press the grape and the olive, 
here eat the orange and fig, and in their own unaided might, 
erect the altar of civil and rehgious freedom on the plains of 
the Californias. 

Mazatlan ; we anchored in the roads, and having passed a 
day and two nights with Mr. Parrot, our worthy consul, and 
another American who was addicted to aristocracy and smug- 
gling, we bade adieu to Captain Paty and his Don Quixote, 
to Messrs. Johnson and Chamberlain, and sailed for San Bias 
in the schooner Gertrudes, formerly the Honduras of the 
Hawaiian Isles. On the sixteenth we anchored along^ side the 
prison-ship in the roads of San Bias, and had the pleasure of 
knowing that none of our countrymen had perished on the 
passage. They had suffered greatly from thirst and hunger ; 
but they lived ; and that to us and to them was cause of the 
deepest gratitude. Forty-six Americans and Britons in 
chains ! — in the chains of Californian Spaniards ! Will not 
the day come when vengeance will be repaid ? 

During the afternoon and the night following day we rode 
sixty miles to the city of Tepic, and laid the case of these pris- 



314 



SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 



oners before the American and British consuls, who ren- 
dered them all the aid and protection which their situa- 
tion required. Graham finally returned to California, a 
broken-spirited, ruined man. The others are dispersed 
elsewhere. 

From here we mounted our mules, crossed the Republic 
of Mexico, and sailed to New Orleans. 

THE END. 



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